Water Efficiency

Water Efficiency Credits (10 possible points)

The most important natural resource on Earth. Without it we wouldn't survive. Buildings account for about 1/4 of United States total supply of renewable fresh water, according to USGBC. That's over 300 billion gallons of water per day withdrawn from lakes, rivers, streams, and underground aquifers!

In South Florida water is extracted from underground aquifers. The water levels in these aquifers have been reduced significantly due to higher demand from an increased population. The past decade has seen a large number of new developments due to the real estate boom which meant more buildings and more people occupying those buildings.

It's rather difficult to be conscientious with water as supply has always been readily available and costs have been relatively affordable. Through increased funding municipalities have been able to keep up with demand by building more treatment facilities. But how much longer can we use reactive measures? No one really knows, but by being proactive through water reducing strategies we can always be sure that water will remain as our most important resource. Using water-conservation methodologies can significantly reduce life-cycle costs for building owners in addition to increasing the resale value of the building. What's more important than the 'payback' is it conserves the very much needed resource to sustain life.