WATER SAVING AND MANAGEMENT

1.1. DESCRIPTION Like energy, water is a resource that must be used sparingly and without waste, starting from the production of materials, through the construction phases, to the actual use of the building. This best practice includes solutions for water use efficiency as well as those aimed at maximising the reuse of rainwater and ensuring the hydraulic invariance of interventions in the built environment. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS The circularity of water is not explicitly included in any of the other best practices and, indeed, is very often not given the necessary importance. The practices indicated here allow for the implementation of the principles of circularity of reduce, thanks to the optimised use of the resource, but also of reuse/recycle, whether it is a question of using rainwater for irrigation, for example, or of inserting devices for the treatment of waste water for reuse. By operating in this way, and educating the building user to save water, we are able to limit the supply from the Circular.buildings local water network as much as possible: very large amounts of energy are required to operate the latter's systems, from which derives an equally large impact, which, by adopting these small solutions at the building level, we can reduce. 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS The main innovation for this practice lies in giving attention to the least considered resource within the building and its production chain: first and foremost, the producer of the materials must limit their use and waste in the processes; the contractor, consequently, must make a choice of materials also based on the minimum embodied water, and in addition must plan the site and construction so that on-site consumption is as low as possible. As far as the designer is concerned, his role is more fundamental than ever, especially to ensure the hydraulic invariance of the project and to limit the hydrogeological consequences of the building, especially in this context of climate change: the integration of collection tanks and green roofs can partly contribute to mitigate the problem. As far as the maintenance phase is concerned, the introduction of devices to identify leaks and malfunctions is in turn an extremely useful innovation for water consumption efficiency.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Minimisation of impermeable pavements, in favour of permeable soils - Construction of rainwater harvesting cisterns, to be used for non-sanitary purposes such as irrigation - Installation of water-saving devices, such as flow regulators for taps or drip-catchers - Systematic checks for leaks - Reducing the use of water for decorative purposes, unless full recovery is guaranteed - Inclusion of grey water treatment facilities - Use of products that in themselves are made with reduced embodied water - Education of users on the best way to manage water use - Introduction of solutions for the recirculation of drinking water in order to maintain its quality and avoid the proliferation of bacteria Circular.buildings

3.1. BENEFITS - By limiting domestic water consumption, savings, also monetary, on thermal energy production and consequent reduction also of CO2 emissions in the case of fossil fuel generation - Monetary savings on water consumption - Minimisation of wasteful use of potable water for less noble purposes such as irrigation - Reduction of stormwater runoff problems in the city sewer system by adopting hydraulic invariance solutions 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Impossibility of building underground reservoirs or reservoirs of sufficient size to ensure coverage of needs even during periods of low rainfall - High costs to keep the entire hydraulic system in perfect working order - Little general interest in water resources, considered less important than energy