A GHG Metric Methodology to Assess Onsite Buildings Non-Potable Water System for Outdoor Landscape Use

This paper documents a water:energy greenhouse gas (GHG) metric methodology for a decentralized non-potable water system that was developed as part of a Professional Doctorate in Engineering (DEng) research project by the first author. The project identified the need to investigate the challenges in changing the use of potable water to recycled water for landscape irrigation (LI) and for water features (WFs) at a medical facility case study (MFCS) in Abu Dhabi (AD) (the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The drivers for the research project were based on the need for AD to decrease desalinated potable water as well as reduce the environmental impact and operational costs associated with the processing and use of desalinated water. Thus, the aim of the research discussed and presented in this paper was to measure the impact of using recycled and onsite non-potable water sources at the MFCS to alleviate the use of desalinated potable water and reduce associated energy consumption, operational costs, and GHG emissions (latterly in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), for LI and WFs. The analysis of three case scenarios at the MFCS compared different approaches to alleviate energy use, costs, and GHG impacts for the use of recycled water in LI and WFs against a baseline. The findings led to a proposed sustainable water conservation and reuse (SWC) strategy, which helped save 50% desalinated potable water for LI use by soil improvement, building water system audits, and alternate non-potable water reuse. The recommendations for this paper are to develop a SWC strategy forming the basis for a water protocol by the competent authority for regional medical facilities including an assessment methodology for building decentralized non-potable water systems to measure their energy, GHG emissions and financial impact

Evaluation of a Landscape Irrigation Management Strategy to Support Abu Dhabi Update Its Water-Related Standards

This chapter discusses an landscape irrigation (LI) strategy to enable 100% non-potable water reuse through soil improvement, thereby reducing the environmental impacts. The case study site is a medical facility including 33,257 m2 of landscaping in Abu Dhabi (AD), the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The aim of this research is to increase net-carbon sinks, a pillar of decarbonization, as the basis for a proposed protocol to implement soil improvement techniques for the landscape architecture/agriculture industries. The interventions, based on AD soil and water recycling standards, included three different soil additives in 2016 and 2017, together with the calculation and implementation of a suitable irrigation rate to establish LI demand and reduce a five-month shortfall in air-conditioning condensate water supply. The intervention results show the case study irrigation rate was 50% less after soil improvement than the AD Municipality irrigation standard and that the LI condensate water deficit decreased by 8046 m3, a 42% reduction. The research demonstrates that carbon sinks can be increased through improved soil management; this highlights the need to update AD’s water-related standards to help the city achieve its 2030 target of a 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions