BREEAM Water efficient equipment

[edit] Aim and benefits

To reduce unregulated water consumption by specifying efficient equipment.

[edit] What is unregulated water use?

Unregulated water use is all water use not considered by building regulations. Part G of building regulations covers the regulation of water use in dwellings. In the case of non-residential properties, BRE seem to be suggesting that unregulated water use is essentially anything not covered in WAT 01.

These may be things such as swimming pools, irrigation systems, fountains, vehicle wash systems.

[edit] When to consider

This is a little bit dependent on what your water uses are, but generally:

• When the team begin to think about landscape design, "plant the seed" of thinking about using drought resistant planting/planting which thrives in the country's natural weather.
• If there is a specific water consuming item, as soon as it's considered, start to get the design team talking about how they could reduce water.

[edit] Step by step guidance

Awaiting content

[edit] Questions to ask while seeking compliance

• What are the unregulated water sources?
• Is there design guidance which states minimum flow rates for the specified item?
• Is there any other reason we shouldn't reduce flow rate from standard?
• How could we reduce water use?

[edit] Tools and resources

BREEAM Knowledge Base Articles

[edit] Tips and best practice

Awaiting content

[edit] Typical evidence

Best practice evidence would include a letter or calculation sheet, calculating the water use prior to implementing water saving measures to unregulated water use, and post water saving measures. This would demonstrate a percentage reduction in water use.

Regularly compliance is demonstrated through use of a signed letter, stating that irrigation has not been used.

The criteria appears to be asking for demonstration of a meaningful reduction (e.g. a calculation of this), however perhaps this is down to assessor judgement and interpretation of the criteria.

[edit] Applicable Schemes

The guidelines collated in this ISD aim to support sustainable best practice in the topic described. This issue may apply in multiple BREEAM schemes covering different stages in the life of a building, different building types and different year versions. Some content may be generic but scheme nuances should also be taken into account. Refer to the comments below and related articles to this one to understand these nuances. See this document for further guidelines.

• UK New Construction 2014

BRE Global does not endorse any of the content posted and use of the content will not guarantee the meeting of certification criteria.

--Multiple Author Article 22:03, 21 Apr 2018 (BST)

[edit] Find out more

[edit] Related articles

Costs of water automatic sprinkler systems

Future Water, The Government’s water strategy for England

Harvested rainwater

Swimming pool construction (Note how much water backwashing a filter system uses)