A Living Building harvests water at a sustainable rate and returns that water to the environment in a state that is as clean (or cleaner) than it existed originally, and manages its stormwater in a way that mirrors a site’s predevelopment hydrological conditions.

Cascadia envisions a future whereby all buildings are designed to harvest enough water to meet the needs of occupants. Water can be reused, purified, and reused again. Currently, such practices are often illegal under health code regulations in North America--regulations which arose precisely because people were not properly safeguarding the quality of their water. Reaching the Living Building ideal for water use presently is dependent on what is allowable by code.

Sessions in the Water Petal of the Living Building Leader program aim to deliver the skills and information needed to design and construct buildings that meet this ideal.

Sessions:

W01: Site flow    Available October 20, 2008

W02: Rain harvesting and water budget    Available Summer 2009

W03: Water treatment and reuse    Available Summer 2009

W04: Environmental impacts of water    Available Summer 2009