See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/310611986

WATER CONSERVATION ASPECTS OF GREEN BUILDINGS

Article · December 2015

CITATIONS READS

24 23,755

3 authors:

Oindrila Das Priyanka Bera

KIIT University KIIT University
1 PUBLICATION   24 CITATIONS    1 PUBLICATION   24 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Sanjib Moulick
KIIT University
48 PUBLICATIONS   533 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Life cycle assessment for Aquaculture System Management View project

Chemical Treatment of Aquaculture Wastewater View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Priyanka Bera on 22 November 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

WATER CONSERVATION ASPECTS OF GREEN BUILDINGS

Oindrila Das, Priyanka Bera1, Sanjib Moulick2

1
M. Tech Student, School of Civil Engineering. KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
[email protected], [email protected]
2
Senior Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering. KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
[email protected]

Abstract
The Earth’s surface is filled with water by 71.7%, but only 3% of this water can be used as potable water. In the present days,
with the rapid increase in population water conservation has become a major issue. Green buildings are being created around the
world to minimize the use of resources, reduce various harmful effects to the ecology and create a clean environment. With the
increasing demand for water it has become a necessity to implement water conservation in the design of green buildings. This
paper overviews the prioritization of water conservation as one of the important aspects of green buildings to save water. Various
water efficient technologies such as water cooling towers and rain water harvesting are being implemented around the world.
Countries such as Taiwan and Jordan have taken major steps towards implementing water efficient technologies into their green
building designs. They have introduced water conservation index to evaluate the consumption of water and the water saving
efficiency of the green buildings. Different rating systems have been introduced to establish the degree of accomplishment of
environmental goals of the green buildings. Hence, it has been concluded that by using these water efficient techniques, the
precious water can be saved in an economic way so that our future generations don’t face the curse of water scarcity.

Keywords: water efficient technologies, water conservation index, rating systems

---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------

1. INTRODUCTION growth rate of around 80 million people every year. This

implies that the need for freshwater is increasing by a rate of
Green building refers to a structure which is designed to be 64 billion cubic meters per year. By the year 2001 the global
environmental friendly and make minimal and efficient use per head water supplies decreased by almost one-third of the
of resources. A green building is eco-friendly and resource value in the year 1970 due to the rapid increase in
efficientduring its whole life span starting from its population. According to UN, by the year 2050 two-third of
construction to demolition. Green building design mainly population or as many as 5 billion people will face shortage
emphasises on making efficient use of resources such as of clean freshwater [2]. At this rate all the fresh water
energy, water, etc. while reducing various bad effects on the resources will get exhausted and the world in future will
environment and the occupants during its use. Many face water scarcity. Thus, there is a dire need for conserving
innovative technologies such as use of solar panels, green water and preventing its pollution.
roofs, rain gardens, rain water harvesting, recycling and
reuse of grey water, etc. are being used nowadays. One of the main objectives of green buildings is to reduce
water use and protect its quality. Water conservation during
“Green building is perhaps best understood as a the whole life span of a building can be achieved by
convergence of two movements: (1) an architectural designing dual plumbing that recycles the water used in
movement emphasizing environment conscious, integrated, water closets and the water used to wash cars, using water
efficient, and innovative design; and (2) an environmental efficient fittings and fixtures such as ultra-low flushing
movement arising from the principle of sustainable toilets, bidets and low flow shower heads. Other
development”[1]. technologies such as rain water harvesting and recycling and
reuse of grey water, etc. are also being used.
The five main components of green buildings include site
and design efficiency, reduced energy usage, reduced water
2.1. Rating Systems for Water Efficiency
consumption, environmentally safe construction materials
and better air quality. This paper focuses on the water use Many different rating systems for green buildings have been
efficiency and water conservation aspect of green buildings developed by various countries around the world in order to
and its importance. rate the green buildings according to degree of the
environmental goals that have been achieved by them.
2. WATER CONSERVATION Green buildings are rated based on their performances in
energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality,
The sources of fresh water which can be used by humans in etc.
their daily lives are limited. With the rapid increase in
population the demand for water is also growing.The current
population of the world is approximately 6.7 billion with a
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 04 Special Issue: 13 | ICISE-2015 | Dec-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 75
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

The Building Research Establishment Environmental II.LEED Rating for Existing Buildings
Assessment Method (BREEAM) was the very first system
The LEED rating for Existing Buildings (“LEED-EB”)
developed to rate green buildings. Following that, many
comprises of anoverallof eighty-five points and awards the
other rating systems like Green Star in Australia, the
same four certification levels as that of LEED-NC. The
Comprehensive Assessment System for Building
LEED-EB system includes two mandatory water efficiency
Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) in Japan, the Building
measures: (1) reduction of “fixture potable water usage to a
and Environmental Performance Assessment Criteria
level equal to or below water use baseline, calculated as
(BEPAC) in Canada, and the Leadership in Energy and
120% of the water usage that would result if 100% of the
Environmental Design (LEED) inthe United States were
total building fixture count were outfitted with plumbing
devisedand currently are being used all over the world. Very
fixtures that meet the Energy Policy Act of 1992 fixture
detailedrecords of all the available assessment tools for safe
performance requirements”; and (2) the obedience of
environmental conditionscan be found in Ding, the Whole
required polluted waste discharge according to the Clean
Building Design Guide, and the World Green Building
Water Act, if the building is structured under the EPA’s
Council [3].
pollution discharge elimination program. Once those pre-
requisites are satisfied, an existing building renovation can
2.2. Water Efficiency (WE) In the LEED Green achieve water efficiency points by obtaining a 50% (1 point)
Building Rating System or 95% (1 extra point) decrease in the use of potable water
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for irrigation purposes.Another point can be earned by
(LEED)was launched by USGBC as a new green building decreasing the use of potable water for sewage
rating system in late 1998, and it has since become “the transportation of the building by 50% or doing 100%
most widely accepted program of its kind in the U.S.” wastewater treatmenton the site to tertiary standards.
LEED is a rating system that scores performance in five Obtaining 10% or 20% decrease in fixture water use
categories: (1) sustainable site design, (2) water according to the base-line results in awarding of one or two
conservation, (3) energy savings, (4) selection of materials extra points, respectively. This distribution of points is
and their usage, and (5) quality of indoor environment. essentially same as that in the LEED-NC, except that the
USGBC has tailored LEED ratings systems for a range of required reductions are slightly lesser. [1]
different types of buildings, including new constructions and
large renovations, operations and maintenance of the III.LEED Rating for Homes
existing structures. [1] LEED is being used in many countries The LEED rating for Homes, which is currently in a trial
which do not have any proper rating systems for their green period, contains a total of 108 points. The awarding of
buildings. Countries such as Brazil and Mexico have started points for water efficient techniques in this system
implementing LEED in their green building designs. arestricter. A designer earns points due to the installation of
a rainwater harvesting system (1 point) or grey water
The LEED rating is based on a system of points and credits. recycling and reuse system (1 point), design and installation
It awards points to the building under consideration based of highly efficient irrigation systems (up to 5 points,
on its accomplishments in the five categories mentioned depending on the climate of the region), and installation of
above. Water conservation being a major issue, LEED is highly efficient lavatory faucets, shower heads, and urinals
implemented in different kinds of buildings to analyse and (up to 3 points).[1]
rate the extent of water efficiency being achieved by the
building. 2.3. Water Conservation Index
I.LEED rating for New Construction “The water conservation index is the ratio of the actual
The LEED rating for New Construction (“LEED-NC”) was quantity of water consumed in a building to the average
the first rating system proposed by USGBC and is the water consumption in general. The index is also called, the
standard for the all other LEED rating systems. According water saving rate”.[4]Assessments ofwater usageby buildings
to this rating system, various buildings are certified as including the quantity of water usage as well as the quantity
“Platinum”, “Gold”, “Silver” and “Certified,” based on the of water conserved due water efficient fittings, rain water
no of points they obtain in the five categories mentioned harvesting and recycling and reuse of grey water.
above with “Platinum” being the highest rating. A total
sixty-nine points can be obtained out of which the category As water has become a limited resource, it is required to
of water efficiency comprises of a total of five points. These evaluate the water being consumed by all the buildings.
five points are awarded as: a 50% decrease in the use of Thus, water conservation index comes into play in order to
potable water for irrigation (1 point), a 100% decrease in the calculate the water saving rate of each building and then
same (1extra point), a 50% decrease in the use of potable assess whether the building can be certified as a green
water in sewage transportationof the building (1 point), a building or it has to implement water efficient techniques
20% decrease in cumulative water usage according to a into its design and accordingly renovate it. The water
baseline defined for the building (excluding irrigation) after conservation index also helps in designing a new building
satisfying the performance requirements for fixtures of the according to the required water consumption quantity.
Energy Policy Act of 1992(1 point), and a 30% decrease in
the same (1 extra point).[1]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 04 Special Issue: 13 | ICISE-2015 | Dec-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 76
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

The actual water saving rate (WR) is used for residential So, under such dire conditions some serious steps towards
buildings only and a building having WR less than 0.8 can conservation of water must be taken. Rain is a natural source
be categorised under green buildings. [4] For calculating the of water. So, if it can be collected and treated, it can be used
water saving rate in buildings other than residential as potable water. It is a cheap and simple technology, so it
buildings, the rate of adoption of water saving equipment can be easily installed in normal households and a lot of
(AR) is used. Any building other than a residential building water can be saved.
needs to have an AR value of less than 0.8 is qualified to be
identified as a green building [4]. 3.1.1. Stages in Rainwater Harvesting
According to this approach, projects in order to be qualified A basic system for the harvesting of rainwater consists of
as green buildings should attain a water saving rate of more three stages:
than 20%.[4] It is not only aimed at water conservation in
existing buildings but also to promote green building design Collection Stage
and construction for upcoming construction projects. This It is the first step of Rainwater harvesting. At first while it’s
system is currently being used in Taiwan and rapidly raining in a catchment area, rainwater is collected in a
gaining recognition around the world. container on roofs, pavement or the soil surface. Channels
all around the edge of a sloping roof to collect and transport
rainwater to the storage tank.
3. WATER EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES
Water efficiency refers to the decrease in the usage of water Distribution Stage
as well as decrease in the wastage of water. Wastage of Pipelines are the backbone of the distribution system in
water or its extra usage leads to drawing out of more water RWH. They carry rainwater from the catchment or rooftop
from the fresh water resources, resulting in their depletion. area to the harvesting system. They can be semi-circular or
Thus, water efficient technologies have been developed to rectangular and are made using galvanized iron sheet (20 to
conserve potable as well as non-potable water and to 22 gauge), PVC, Bamboo. Table 1 shows diameter of pipe
ultimately save the already limited fresh water resources. required for drainage of rainwater according to rainfall
Water efficient technologies in buildings mainly include intensity and area of the roof [5]
water saving fittings and fixtures. They also include rain
water harvesting and recycling and reuse of grey water. Storage Stage
After collection and distribution, next comes the most
A study of household water consumption in different areas important step, the storage system. For simple RWH storage
revealed that almost 50% of the total water is used in baths tank is used. The capacity of the storage tank is based upon
and toilet flushes.[4] Thus, instead of using luxurious but several design criteria:
water wasting fittings and fixtures, water saving ones can be
used. These include used of low flow shower heads and low  rainfall
flushing toilets instead of bathtubs and normal flushes,  the length of dry season
which use more water respectively. Other such fittings and  estimated need
fixtures such as two-sectioned water closets, bidets,
composting toilet systems, dry urinals, auto sensor water The increasing requirement of water is resulting in lowering
taps etc. But the major water saving is done by rain water of ground water table. The rainwater recharges the ground
harvesting and grey water recycling and reuse. water. This water is available in lakes, rivers, ponds,
aquifers, etc. but these are fickle sources. Treated rainwater
3.1. Rain Water Harvesting can solve the demand of household water needs. Generally
the water sources are located far from community. If
It is the collection and distribution of rainwater for using in
rainwater can be collected and used, it will reduce the cost
daily life, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is
of distribution.
generally accumulated from roof tops. Then it is deposited
in a reservoir with percolation. It is used for gardening,
cultivation and domestic uses. The harvested water can also 3.2. Grey Water Recycling and Reuse
be used as ground water recharge. Greywater refers to the domestic waste water which is
drained out excluding the waste water from kitchen sink and
Water shortage is caused by climate change, lack of the water closet as they have high concentration of organic
planning of water uses, rapidly increasing water pollution matters. [8] In order to conserve water this water cannot be
and increasing population. just drained out but should be recycled and reused. The
benefit of using recycled greywater is that it is a large source
According to studies, if more supplies of freshwater aren’t with low concentration of organic matter. [6]
found by 2020 Sudan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Tunisia and
Cuba will face sever water scarcity. By 2035 Himalayan The bathroom greywater consists of waste water from
glaciers will disappear leaving India, Myanmar and showers, bathtubs and wash basins. It has a very low
Bangladesh in the state water shortage. concentration of organic matter. The other sources of
greywater are from washing of clothes, car washing, etc.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 04 Special Issue: 13 | ICISE-2015 | Dec-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 77
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

According to various studies, an average household points can be earned and the building under consideration
produces 140 litre of greywater per day [6]. The various can be categorized as – very green (100–80%), green (79–
sources and their contribution is categorized in table 2. 50%), not green (<50%). [10] This system takes into account
The greywater from all these sources are collected and then only residential buildings and their surrounding
treated to make them safe for non- potable use. These environmental conditions which is native to the region of
treatments include passing the greywater through sand filters Jordan.
or by using natural coagulating agents or by electro-
coagulation techniques. Also other biological and chemical Water conservation index is used in Taiwan to evaluate the
treatments. It has been found that using recycled greywater water saving rates of various buildings. Taiwan has a high
can support the quantity of water required for water closets, average annual rainfall rate of 2500 mm [4]. But the water
car washing and garden watering. distribution per person is very low and due to luxurious
lifestyle of the people, there is lot of unnecessary wastage of
3.3. Cooling Towers water (such as stylish shower heads, bathtubs, etc.). Hence,
with increase in population, the water demand is also
Green buildings use evaporative cooling systems to save increasing, resulting in water shortage problem and a need
energy. These systems use water for cooling. Keeping in to conserve water in Taiwan. So, water conservation index
mind the need for conservation of water, the water used in was devised to encourage the efficient usage of water,
these cooling systems is non-potable water. The circulated harvesting of rain water, recycling and reuse waste water
water is not drained out but is recycled again used in cooling and most importantly discourage the wastage of water.
towers. Using cooling towers which recycle almost 95% of
the total water are recommended. [8] Brazil contains 12%of the world’s total water but it is
unevenly distributed and most of its rivers are polluted.
4. SYSTEMS DEVELOPED FOR Furthermore, not even 10% of sewage is treated and reused.
[11]
ENCOURAGINGWATER CONSERVATION Thus, it gave rise to a need for water conservation to
avoid further wastage of water when the world is going to
AROUND THE WORLD face global water crisis in the near future. Brazil has yet to
implement any green building assessment plan but studies
In Santa Clara Valley Water district, the municipal water are conducted in order to assess the water supply systems
agencies incorporate various “policy instruments” [9] to and waste water drainage systems in the residential
develop efficient water usage among their consumers. buildings in Brazil. These studies aim at developing an
Schneider and Ingram (1990) [9]defined three main assessment tool to encourage green building practice in
categories of policy instruments in water resource Brazil.
management. They are authority tools, incentive tools and
capacity building tools. [5] In authority tools the governing
5. CONCLUSIONS
body implements directives that restrict the quantity of
water usage and adoption of water efficient technologies by The main objective of this paper is to highlight the rising
their consumers. In incentive tools, the consumers are not need for water conservation in today’s world and its
forced but are given a choice. Such as, consumers saving importance as a part of green building designing and
more water or installing water saving appliances are given construction. The necessity for water conservation has
rebates on their water consumption bills whereas others are become so much significant that recently LEED rating
not. In capacity building tool, it is assumed that the systemhas doubled the points under the water efficiency
consumers do not have adequate knowledge or technology category to ten from the previous quantity of five. Several
to make the required changes but if given the choice they countries around the world have already started devising
would opt for the right choice of their own free will. So, green building designs in all their construction works with
capacity building tools take into account the fact that the special emphasis on water conservation and are encouraging
consumers are willing to make changes in their water usage their citizens to use water efficient technologies. Numerous
if provided with adequate information and infrastructures. rating systems to evaluate the efficient use of water in
Jordan has limited sources of fresh water and has one of the buildings have been brought into practice. Protection of the
lowermost distribution per head. Thus, with increase in remaining fresh water resources around the world has
population, the per capita distribution decreases even become a matter of global significance and measures are
further, as a result Jordan will face an absolute problem of being taken to preserve them so as to avoid facing the
water scarcity in the near future. Hence, Jordan started problem of water scarcity in the future.
incorporating green building practices in their designs. They
also developed an assessment tool called SABA [10] green 7. REFERENCES
building rating system to evaluate the green buildings in
Jordan. SABA is a “criteria-based tool” [10] and it assigns [1]. Nelson,P.A., “Measuring from the High Watermark:
points based on the satisfaction of its seven categories Defining Baselines for Water Efficiency in Green
namely, site design (10.3), energy savings (23), water Buildings”, New York University School of Law,
conservation (27.7), resources and materials used (10.3), Columbia University, 2007, pp.114-117.
environmental quality inside the building (11.8), wastage [2]. Moghadam,B.Z., “Introducing Water Efficiency of
and pollution (6.4), and economic (10) [10]. A total of 100 U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Program to the

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 04 Special Issue: 13 | ICISE-2015 | Dec-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 78
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

freshmen of the Technology College”, Architecture Table 2. Sources of grey water and their contributions
and Construction Management Department of the
Farmingdale State College, pp.1. Sl. No. Source Type Quantity/day/pers
[3]. Lacouture,D.C., Sefair,J.A., Flo’rez,L., Medaglia,A.L., on
” Optimization model for the selection of materials
using a LEED-based green building rating system in 1 Shower Greywater 20-30 lit[7]
Colombia”, Building and Environment 44, 2009,
pp.1163.
[4]. Cheng,C.L., “Evaluating water conservation measures 2 Washing Greywater 15-20 lit[7]
for Green Building in Taiwan”, cloth
[5]. Department of Architecture, National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology, Building and 3 Pets Greywater 10-15 lit[7]
Environment 38, 2003, pp.370-372.
[6]. Rain water harvesting and conservation manual
CPWD, Govt. of India, 2002, pp.17.
[7]. Pidou,M., Memon, F.A., Stephenson,T., Jefferson,B.,
Jeffrey,P., “Greywater recycling: A review of
treatment options and applications”, Engineering
Sustainability 160 issue ES3, 2007, pp.119.
[8]. Lambe,J.S., Chougule,R.S., “Greywater - Treatment
and Reuse”, IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil
Engineering (IOSR-JMCE), pp.21.
[9]. Cline, Daryn,S., “Interpreting and Applying Cooling
Tower Water Efficiency Design Recommendations in
Sustainable Building Codes”, American Society of
Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
Engineers, Inc., volume 120, 2014.
[10]. Reed,L.K., “Capacity Building as A Policy Instrument
in Water Conservation: A Case Study on Commercial,
Industrial, and Institutional Consumers”, July 2012, pp.
3919-3821.
[11]. Ali,H.H., Nsairat,S.F.A., “Developing a green building
assessment tool for developing countries – Case of
Jordan”, Building and Environment 44, 2009,
pp.1060,1062.
[12]. Ilha,M.S.O., Oliveira,L.H., Goncalves,O.M.,
“Environmental assessment of residential buildings
with an emphasis on water conservation”, Building
Serv. Eng. Res. Technol. 30,1, 2009.

8. TABLES
Table 1. Diameter of pipe required according to average
precipitation and area of the roof [5]
Average rainfall (mm)
50 75 100 125 150 200
Diameter of pipe (mm) Roof Area (sqm)
50 13.4 8.9 6.6 5.3 4.4 3.3
65 24.1 16 1 9.5 8 6
75 40.8 27 20.4 16.3 13.6 10.2
100 85.4 57 42.7 34.2 28.5 21.3
125 - - 80.5 64.3 53.5 40
150 - - - - 83.6 62.7

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 04 Special Issue: 13 | ICISE-2015 | Dec-2015, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 79

View publication stats