October 2012
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1.2
Water Management Planning
Developing an Understanding of Building Operational Characteristics
To better understand a facility’s water use patterns, consider the following:
••
Survey operations and maintenance personnel to determine typical facility
operating conditions (e.g., hours of operation, number of employees and visi-
tors) and building characteristics (e.g., size, number of floors). Document this
information using a tool such as the Building Water Survey Worksheet provided
in Appendix B.
••
Determine how many days the facility is
operating per year and when fluctuations
in water use may be expected. Facilities
such as schools use less water during
months when school is not in session;
office buildings use less water on the week-
ends; and hospitals operating 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year see no daily or
monthly variation.
Defining HowWater Is Used at the Facility
Once the water management team has a clear
understanding of the facility’s operational
attributes and typical water use patterns, the
next step is to determine specifically how water
is used and currently tracked at the facility by
doing the following:
••
Identify all sources of water use at the
facility. This can include: municipally sup-
plied potable water, municipally supplied
reclaimed water, wells or other freshwater
sources, and onsite alternative water. For
purposes of establishing a baseline, water
sources can be more broadly grouped as
potable, non-potable, onsite alternative, or
purchased reclaimed water.
••
Identify and record basic information for all
metered sources of water, including bill-
ing account numbers and meter numbers,
size/type, and location. Also note whether
meters are dedicated to specific end uses
(
e.g., irrigation, indoor water use). Docu-
ment this information using a form such as
the List of Water Meters Worksheet pro-
vided in Appendix B. In addition, consider
Water Sources
Water sources can be defined as follows,
based on the definitions developed by an
interagency group working to implement
requirements associated with a federal execu-
tive order on sustainability:
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••
Potable water:
Water that is of sufficient
quality for human consumption and that is
obtained from public water systems or from
natural freshwater sources, such as lakes,
streams, and aquifers that are classified,
permitted, and approved for human con-
sumption.
••
Non-potable water:
Water that is obtained
from natural freshwater sources that is not
of sufficient quality for human consumption
and has not been properly treated, permit-
ted, or approved for human consumption.
••
Onsite alternative water:
Water that is
not obtained from a surface water source,
groundwater source, nor purchased
reclaimed water from a third party. It can
include rainwater or stormwater harvested
on site, sump pump water harvesting, gray
water, air-cooling condensate, reject water
from water purification systems, water
reclaimed on site, or water derived from
other water reuse strategies.
••
Purchased reclaimed water:
Wastewater
treatment plant effluent purchased from a
third party that has been diverted for bene-
ficial uses, such as irrigation, that substitute
the use of an existing freshwater source.
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DOE, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE), Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Federal Water Efficiency Requirements.
