Buildings Drink Deeply

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC), commercial buildings use 13.6% of our nation’s potable water, about 15 trillion gallons per year.  Saving water has become a priority and will graduate to a necessity in the next decade.

Boilers and cooling towers are big building water users and good targets for conservation strategies, starting with professional water analysis and treatment.  Heating and cooling water reduction is a double bonus, because not only is water saved, but the energy to heat, cool and pump it, too.  In fact, the USGBC’s LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings provides a credit for implementing chemical water treatment for cooling towers.

More ambitious owners and facility management professionals are taking it a step further, utilizing non-potable water sources, like condensate and roof runoff rainwater, as makeup water.  Properly treated, both are excellent substitutes for municipal or well water.  Added infrastructure costs are a factor, but the investment can have a reasonable payback, especially when the rising cost of water and sewage is projected out over five plus years.

Check your local building codes for compliance, but more and more communities – and not just in southwest states – are encouraging rainwater harvesting and other non-potable water strategies.  Your APTech Group distributor’s water experts and our factory resources are at your service, too.  Start evaluating conservation strategies today before water issues escalate.

Posted on behalf Lew Bonadies, LEED AP, Sustainability Director, APTech Group