Green Buildings BC

New York's Marriot Marquis Hotel replaced 1,800 guest room toilets (operating at approximately five gallons per flush) with 1.6-gallon pressurized-tank toilets, resulting in an 18% reduction in total water use. ...During 1994-1997, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) sponsored the replacement of 1.33 million toilets citywide. Some showerheads were replaced and faucet aerators installed as part of the project. An impact evaluation of project results in multi-family buildings found an average reduction in water use of 29%, or 69 gallons per apartment per day.

--New York City Department of Design and Construction, High Performance Building Guidelines, 1999

• Key Activities (like xeriscaping or wastewater treatement facilities)
• Geographic Location (locations throughout Canada are represented)
• Main Water Use (like domestic water or laundry water)
• Sector (like Government or Commercial)

• The five main water users in Canada
• Municipal water use by sector
• Water use per flush - conventional vs. ULV toilet

• The City of Vancouver WaterWise Garden Plan
• Native and Introduced Plants for Water Conservation Gardens
• Native Plant Nurseries and Seed Suppliers (contains information throughout BC and in the Pacific Northwest outside British Columbia)
• Public Native Plant and Water Conservation Gardens (throughout BC)

• The City of Vancouver has designed and produced recycled plastic rain barrels at a subsidized price for its residents.
• The barrels hold 75 Imperial gallons and are adaptable for watering cans or a soaker hose. The cost as of June 1, 2000 is $56.09 including taxes (subsidized half-price).
• For those outside of Vancouver, contact your local municipality to see if it has a similar program.

• The US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly sponsor the Energy Star program, which certifies water- and energy-efficient equipment and appliances.
• Its Web site lists many information resources, among them easily searchable databases of manufacturers, model numbers and efficiencies of Energy Star labelled water heaters, appliances, boilers, and HVAC equipment.
• Mostly oriented to the residential / small commercial equipment and appliances.

An artificial stream is located to one side of the travel way to carry water from large storms out of the district to holding areas and , later, to streams. This strategy eliminates the need for storm water trunk collectors, providing environmental benefits at costs that are lower than the standard alternative, It also insures that storm water will be clean by the time it enters the stream.

--The Headwaters Project: a sustainable community in Surrey BC, UBC James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Livable Design Website, http://www.agsci.ubc.ca/jamestaylorchair/, 2000

While industrial systems of water control rely on concrete and steel, pumps, and other mechanical devices, regenerative systems rely mostly on land-form, soil, plants, and biological processes. Paleotechnic technologies for controlling water flow rely heavily on energy inputs which are primarily derived from fossil fuels; water flow and energy flow are inseparable. If carefully fitted to topography and soil, subtle and inexpensive landform alterations such as swales, berms, and depressions can serve to guide or slow the flow of water with little or no energy cost.

--John Tillman Lyle, Regenerative Design For Sustainable Development, 1994

• The regulation calls for the establishment of 15- to 30-metre-wide streamside protection areas on fish-bearing streams in urban areas.
• Local governments will be required to bring their zoning bylaws in line with the new regulation.
• They will have the flexibility to take into account local development conditions, while at the same time ensuring the protection of critical fish habitat.
• This new directive will provide the same level of protection to streams in urban and settled areas of the province that the Forest Practices Code does on forested Crown land.

• 833R92001 Storm Water Management for Construction Activities: Developing Pollution Prevention Plans and Best Management Practices; Summary Guidance
• 840B92002A Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources for Nonpoint Pollution In Coastal Waters

• Combined Sewer Overflows Treatment
• Storm Water (including Bioretention, Porous Pavement, Sand Filters, Storm Water Contamination Assessment, Storm Water Wetlands, Vegetative Swales, Wet Detention Ponds and more)
• Disinfection (Chlorine Disinfection, Ozone Disinfection, Ultraviolet Disinfection)
• Biological Treatment (Secondary and Advanced)
• Water Efficiency (including Composting Toilets, Incinerating Toilets, Oil Recirculating Toilets)
• Decentralized Systems Technology
• Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet (including Free Water Surface Wetlands, High Efficiency Toilets, Wetlands: Subsurface Flow)

• An excellent guide to the basics of stormwater infiltration & quality management approaches.
• Applicable to all building sites, not just residential.

• Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook: textbook provides all of the information needed to select and design erosion control measures for construction sites.
• Manual of Standards: Covers control measures for urban or developing areas, with emphasis on control of construction erosion. Includes legal guidelines and technical standards, with sample specifications for controlling water quality impacts.
• Both available from Friends of the San Francisco Estuary website.

• Documents the BC Governments' Action Plan for "nonpoint source" water pollution, including stormwater runoff in urban areas.
• Background & summary of issues, rather than a design guide.

In the "Living Machine," the building's natural wastewater treatment system, micro-organisms and plants break down and digest impurities in the wastewater, which is then reused for non-drinking applications.

--Michael Reis, Environmental Design & Construction, 2000

• Combined Sewer Overflows Treatment
• Storm Water (including Bioretention, Porous Pavement, Sand Filters, Storm Water Contamination Assessment, Storm Water Wetlands, Vegetative Swales, Wet Detention Ponds and more)
• Disinfection (Chlorine Disinfection, Ozone Disinfection, Ultraviolet Disinfection)
• Biological Treatment (Secondary and Advanced)
• Water Efficiency (including Composting Toilets, Incinerating Toilets, Oil Recirculating Toilets)
• Decentralized Systems Technology
• Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet (including Free Water Surface Wetlands, High Efficiency Toilets, Wetlands: Subsurface Flow)

• Commissioning Guide For The Toronto Healthy Houses Water Systems. CMHC CR File No.: 6740-5. (1996)
• Biological Toilets and Greywater Systems. CMHC. (1993)
• Regulatory Barriers to On-Site Water Reuse. CMHC. (1997)
• An Application Guide For Water Reuse Systems. CMHC. (1997)

• Although sometimes academic, these guides provide extensive practical information on greywater recycling, biological wastewater, and other water systems.
• They are available free or for a low fee through CMHC.

• John and Nancy Todd are known for their in the restoration of pure water, and bioremediation of aquatic environments.
• This book is an informative, if slightly academic and philosophical, exploration of the principles of ecological design.

• The Oasis Guides are excellent: brief, yet comprehensive and current.
• While oriented to building professionals in Southern California, much of the information is applicable in colder climates.

• The California Plumbing Code has recently been amended to address graywater system applications in commercial and multi-family residential, as well as single family dwellings.
• However, the disposal fields in the California Code must be modified for northern use.

Key to the green infrastructure strategy is the "green street." This narrow street allows for one moving lane, tree boulevards and sidewalks on both sides of the street, and absorbs most water that falls on the paved roadway in roadside subsurface infiltration swales.

--The Headwaters Project: a sustainable community in Surrey BC, UBC James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Livable Design Website, http://www.agsci.ubc.ca/jamestaylorchair/, 2000

• An excellent guide to the basics of stormwater infiltration & quality management approaches.
• Applicable to all building sites, not just residential.

Grey water is treated in a wetland constructed outside the building, and is stored for irrigation.

--Freda Pagani, Director, Sustainability, Land and Building Services UBC, Description of the C.K.Choi Building, 1998

• CK Choi Building
• Liu Centre
• Crestwood Corporate Centre Building 2

• Key Activities (like xeriscaping or wastewater treatement facilities)
• Geographic Location (locations throughout Canada are represented)
• Main Water Use (like domestic water or laundry water)
• Sector (like Government or Commercial)

Every year the US paves more area than the Roman Empire during its entire existence.

--Kim Sorvig, "Porous Paving" Landscape Architecture, 1993

• Liu Centre
• Burnaby Mountain Secondary School
• CK Choi Building
• Materials Testing Facility
• Crestwood Corporate Centre Building 2
• Lewis Center for Environmental Studies

• Storm water run-off will be naturally treated, by plant material on-site, to remove contaminants.
• Created ten times as much new wetland as will be disturbed by construction

• Composting toilets (Clivus Multrum) reduce water use by as much as 1,000 litres [264 gal.] of water / day.
• Water reductions enabled the project to exist without a sewer connection.
• The gray water system uses a subsurface constructed wetland to filter and clean water naturally.
• Wastewater from sinks and the composting "tea" from the toilets are filtered through the grey water trench.

• CK Choi Building
• Lewis Center for Environmental Studies
• Beausoleil Solar Aquatics

• Grand Strand, SC (Carolina Bays)
• Houghton Lake, MI
• Cannon Beach, OR
• Vermontville, MI
• Arcata, CA
• Martinez, CA (Mt. View Sanitary Dist.)
• Marin Co., CA (Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary Dist.)
• Hayward Marsh, CA (Union Sanitary Dist.)
• Orlando, FL (Orlando Easterly Wetlands Reclamation Project)
• Lakeland, FL
• Incline Village, NV
• ShowLow, AZ (Pintail Lake & Redhead Marsh)
• Pinetop/Lakeside, AZ (Jacques Marsh)
• Fort Deposit, AL
• West Jackson Co., MS
• Hillsboro, OR (Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve)
• Des Plaines River, IL

• Although this is a residential system, some of the lessons can be transferred to other buildings.
• Rain collected from the roof provides all of the used in the building.
• Water is stored underground in a cistern.
• Waste water is purified without the use of chemicals.

• Other Toilet Locations (including the Choi building, the Strathcona Community Gardens, and the City of Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
• Composting toilet resources

• This wastewater treatment facility, on the West Nova EcoSite was built in 1995 as a joint venture between the Municipality of Annapolis County, Government of Canada and the Province of Nova Scotia.
• It is a wastewater treatment system that uses greenhouse plants to filter water.
• The site has pictures and details of the system.