LEED SS Credit 6.1

[smp123069]

When you are developing a site with existing impervious greater than 50% LEED credit 6.1 requires that you implement a stormwater management plan that results in a 25% decrease in rate and quantity of stormwater runoff. I understand the concept. My question is this. What storm event are they talking about reducing the rate and volume for? A 25% reduction for a 10-YR storm would required a much larger storage than for the 2-Yr storm....or 1.5 Yr storm which they also refer to in that section.

 

[LHA]

You are now discovering the devil in the details. All this LEED stuff sounds good, but try to quantify it, and you will get fired for "wasting" you client's $. The answer to your question is, as with so many LEED points, "it is not specified". Just do normal detention to local SLDO, and choke it back a little, and sign the sheet. No one who put the LEED sheet together has a clue what is actually being done to achieve LEED. Further conflicts:

E&S: design to EPA or local, whichever is more stringent? Show me a person who does E&S for a living who has ever laid eyes on the EPA's SWM for Construction Activities, Chapter 3, because I do E&S and I never have. So, how can that person know which is more stringent?

The whole Alternative Transportation section is hilarious. Your buildings will be where they fit on your property, not within a certain distance to bike racks and bus stations. Just put a bike rack (and showers for bicyclists!) on the plan, sign the sheet and get the point. The fact that noone will ever use the bike rack (IF it is installed) because no one rides bikes to work is not allowed to be addressed.

Reduce site disturbance...earthwork always has been done with least amount of earth disturbance, because it is cheaper. So, how does one "reduce site disturbance"?

Reduce "baseline" water use by 20%...Low-flush toilets are already required, and flow restrictors are pre-installed into all plumbing fixtures, so is the "baseline" use with normal toilets and showers? If it is, then we all get that point. If it is not, then it would be too prohibitive to even attempt.

Remove 40 % of total P from stormwater runoff? Oh my goodness, are we building treatment plants at our outlet control structures? Who is going to operate this tertiary-level BMP? I am a licensed WWTP operator, and I don't know how to do that. I am confident the average maintenance person in a homeowners association doesn't either.

Add no new parking? You'll add what the local ordinance says, which is a heck of a lot, or you won't develop your land.

Reduce bldg footprint? Your architect will design what the client needs to make him or her able to use the bldg, or your client will fire you. Just sign the sheet already...

Shade trees or light-colored pavement or open-grid pavement? You'll add what the local ordinance says, which is blacktop and monolithic, or you won't develop your land. You'll plant the quantity and type of street trees per SLDO, or you won't develop your land.

HVAC stuff. Go ahead, try using energy efficient equipment. You'll put in what the client needs to stay warm and/or cool, or you'll be rightfully sued for incompetence.

Purchase Green power? You'll run wires to the bldgs. The occupants will pay the utility company what they say when they say and get juice from whatever source the utility burns. This will always be the cheapest, never the Greenest, fuel.

Maintain existing structures? You'll tear down the asbestos-and-lead-ladened, un-insulated "existing" junk (which is why your client is hired you) and put up structures which are easy to heat and light.

Specify local materials? You spec materials. The contractor who wins the bid buys materials that meet specs, presumably from the most efficient supplier. Prohibiting materials from certain places is neither fair nor in keeping with the free-market concept, but go ahead, sign the sheet already...


Remember: The Chinese ideogram for “crisis” is comprised of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”
-Steve