Sustainable Design: Improving Water Efficiency

Just as the thirsty seek the water, so too does water seek the thirsty " (Rumi) Today managing the supply and availability of water are one of the most critical natural resource issues faced by communities. Supplies have decreased due to the drying up of streams, the decline of groundwater levels, because of over pumping , contamination of water resources and increase in drought as well as flood caused by climate changes. Water is necessary to support all biological life, natural processes, communities, the economy, the society and the future generations. The paper provides an overview on the unsustainable current water consumption practices that must be altered. To meet the demand for water supply in future, communities need to work to conserve and re allocate existing water resources. Residents' conservation of water should be encouraged. The planning, management, regulatory, and enforcement powers of communities should be used " to secure public water supplies from the threats of scarcity and long term unsustainability, whether from over consumption, waste, drought, flood damage, degradation and pollution. The paper aims to encourage use of sustainable design philosophy with the use of Water-efficient practices improved technologies that deliver equal or better service using less water. Therefore paper attempt to seek knowledge about Water Efficient Building Strategy are as Reduce, Replace, and Reuse and effectively implementing the 3Rs in sustainable design can result in substantial savings in water so reducing the environmental impact of both water discharge and the need to pump water over long distances. Besides meeting the mandatory requirements, building owners, architects, professional engineers and licensed water service plumbers should incorporate water efficiency planning in the early stages of building development for a variety of reasons: a. Facilities tend to be oversized at the expense of water efficiency. Many building or system design synergies can yield substantial cost and efficiency improvements but these must be done early in the design process before system choices are locked in. b. It is far less expensive to introduce water efficiency measures during the design stage than to undertake retrofitting measures later. Retrofits are more difficult, expensive and intrusive to building operations.