20-0401 Net Zero Water + Ecological Water Flow: Scale Jumping and Hand Printing

Question

The project team would like to confirm that exporting excess gray water to nearby buildings can be applied to the project's achievement of net zero water via the scale jumping mechanism. The project would also like to confirm that direct investment in the Sustainable Waste Water Infrastructure Project qualifies as an example of hand printing to offset the project's annual black water that cannot yet be used onsite, and must be instead sent to the municipal sewer due to code reasons. Please see narrative for further details.

Answer

Handprinting is a strategy allowed for projects pursuing the Water Petal under version 4.0 of the Living Building Challenge. If the team upgrades to version 4.0 for the Water Petal, the investment in the Sustainable Waste Water Infrastructure Project may qualify as a handprinting strategy for the project's blackwater. Please note, water efficiencies within the project itself cannot count towards handprinting, but water savings in other city projects may be used to count towards the sewage offset. The water savings resulting from handprinting must have a net positive impact within the watershed. 

Additionally, under version 4.0 of the Water Petal, exporting excess greywater to adjacent properties in order to offset potable water use may be used as a handprinting strategy. The new components installed for handprinting must meet the requirements of other targeted Imperatives, and the pumping energy must be included in the energy budget.