Title

Innovative Design Of Low Impact Development In Support Of Green Building Initiative

Keywords

Green building; LEED TM; On-site wastewater treatment; Stormwater management; Water efficiency

Abstract

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. Water efficiency is one of the important criteria in green building initiative. In rural area where sewer lines have not yet reached, the innovative design of both stormwater and on-site wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) becomes a critical component for LEED™ accreditation. On-site sewage disposal is a necessity in areas that are not provided with city sewers. When urban regions gradually expand due to regional development, complete service of sewage collection, treatment, and disposal is often unavailable for both geographic and economic reasons. Even when a site has access to a sewer system, it may be desirable to treat sewage on site in order to return water to the local soil, or to provide irrigation for non-food plants. Nation wide, wastewater effluent from OWTS can represent a large fraction of nutrient loads, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, to groundwater aquifers. In addition to the OWTS, stormwater has introduced environmental concerns in response to the increase in nonpoint source (NPS) pollution, flooding, and erosion. New types of stormwater management methods, called low impact development include such methods as green roof, pervious concrete, and soil-amendment bioretention/detention areas, not only reduce stormwater runoff volume, but also treat stormwater to improve the quality of runoff. Some of these on-site low impact development (LID) practices can reduce runoff annual volumes by up to 95%, and others can remove nutrients in stormwater by up to 99%. Presented is a holistic examination of how the performance-based and passive OWTS and advanced LID can aid in the LEED™ accreditation The OWTS at least include but are not limited to: 1) a septic tank followed by a recirculating sand filter (RSF) with effluent discharged to an unlined drip irrigation field, 2) a septic tank with effluent discharged to a lined drip irrigation field with soil substitution, 3) a septic tank followed by a subsurface wetland system, to ensure the effective removal of nutrient flux from septic tanks. Besides, advanced LID of consideration include: 1) green roof, 2) pervious concrete, and 3) soil-amendment bioretention/detention ponds. It eventually leads to improve the environmental quality management in totality. The possible maximum LEED™ for Homes accreditation is twenty nine (29) points, accounting for 64% toward the LEED™ for Homes' certified level, if OWTS and LID are seamlessly integrated and well designed.

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Publication Title

6th International Conference on Environmental Informatics, ISEIS 2007

Number of Pages

-

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

Socpus ID

84915820448 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84915820448

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS