Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Why IT Matters

The Chesapeake Bay has poor water quality.  The EPA and Commonwealth of Virginia are working, along with other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to develop TMDLs for nitrogen, phosporous, and sediment flowing into the Bay.

You should know this isn't anything new.

The 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement made the reduction of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment the focal point of plant to restore the water quality of the Bay.

I recently represented the James River Green Building Council in the Stakeholder Advisory Group to the Commonwealth of Virginia to develop TMDLs and create an implementation plan to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution into the Chesapeake Bay from the watersheds in Virginia.

The first meeting took place December 17th  in House Room 3 of the Virginia Capitol Building. The group will be meeting monthly for approximately six months to complete a draft implementation plan by June 1, 2010. 

How it works...

Think of the Bay as a closed box with an input and an output.  A river flows into the box with an amount of nitrogen (N) in it and some outfall removes the N from the box.  Additionally, some amount of N is used in the box by plants, animals, and settles to the bottom (i.e. removed from the water column).  The goal of the TMDL is to identify a total daily amount of N that can go into the Bay and then back calculating how much each input can contribute to reach, but not exceed, the TMDL.  It's that simple.

However, with everything in life things get more complicated simply because in the real life Chesapeake Bay there isn't only one input, use, or output.  Here is a quick drawing of how things can quickly become more complicated.

As you can see, it doesn't take long to understand the magnitude of the task at hand.  Theoretically every input and output needs to be studied and evaluated to determine what its current input is and the reduction necessary to meet the new TMDL goal.

The next problem...

Turns out it's not easy to determine the about of nutrients or sediment that flow from non-point sources (such as agriculture) because there is no single source that can be monitored or studied.  Regulated point sources like factories or treatment facilities have ample data available about their contribution to the TMDL.  So here is the rub, you can beg, incentivise, require, or threaten...but there is no exact way to determine that a single farmers fertilizer application has or hasn't made it to the Bay (at least no cost effective way).  There is, however, there is a way to do so for the point sources out there and you betcha these folks are sensitive to that fact.

How do you coordinate all of these factors?  


I will let you know by June 1, 2010...that's a promise.  

Happy Holidays

In Fredericksburg, Virginia there is nothing like a good snow.  While, it may not look exactly like this anymore, but it's a great photo from www.framery.com

Well we have about a foot or so of snow in Virginia depending on your exact location.  So on this day and in the upcoming weeks please take time with family, friends, and others and enjoy time away from the internet and work.

Here's hoping you have a safe and happy holiday and an even better 2010!

Thanks,
Rich

LEED Innovation and Design

The fact that LEED gives credit for innovation and design is pure genius.  By rewarding exceptional performance such as doubling the density of a development, increasing the capacity of stormwater storage on-site, or doubling the amount of daylight required by the LEED prerequisite standard.  


Innovation ideas include incorporating an educational or outreach component to your building or using other building projects waste materials to build your own. 


When it comes to LEED Innovation and Design the sky is the limit!


Anyone have and experiences with this?  I'd love to hear about them.

LEED Indoor Environmental Quality

How much time do you spend inside?  Sometimes I feel like all my days are spent inside.  Indoor pollutants are a major issue given these circumstances.  By specifying appropriate materials, monitoring indoor air contaminants such as carbon dioxide, thermal comfort and control, air exchange with the outside, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Beyond these specifications and monitoring is controlling the occupants use of the space and operations and maintenance activities.  Keeping smoking outside of the building and away from the air intake points, changing air filters, using green cleaning products, and using an integrated pest management program are all necessary to keep the air quality high in the building.

I have done several LEED Indoor Environmental Quality evaluations and they are strait forward, provide a baseline for the air quality in the building after construction/major renovation, and act as a check that the design teams request to use low VOCs emitting materials was followed.  However, perhaps the best thing about the evaluation is it proved to the occupants that the air in the building is "good" and they have peace-of-mind.

So next time your inside think about what you are breathing and what you can do to make it better.

LEED Materials and Resources

Have you ever wrapped a gift?  I bet you have.  When wrap a gift I always seem to have a little paper left over.  As it turns out when builders construct buildings they also have a little left over...






LEED tackles the "little extras" through the materials and resources portion of their rating system.  The materials and resources section of the LEED rating system focuses on using renewable materials, recycled materials, the reuse and re-purposing of building materials, and keeping the amount of materials sent to landfills as small as possible.

As some one that love to shop local there regional materials requirement (i.e. building materials that are harvested, fashioned, or manufactured within 500 miles of the project site).  This credit keeps the cash in the local economy and also helps local green builders network and work together to find ways to better serve their clients and people in the area.

Also, as we discussed in LEED Site Selection a few weeks ago taking an old building and making it energy efficient can be difficult, but you get credit here for salvaging materials and using them in your project.  Materials and Resources focuses on the longterm and looks at the materials longevity as in a cradle to grave, or cradle to cradle approach.

LEED Energy and Atmosphere

Energy along with space and water will help to define my generation and our children's lives in the next 50 to 100 years.  Many countries, including the USA, are struggling to come up with ways to create energy needed by an ever growing population of blackberry, iPOD, and HDTV addicts.  Burning coal is no longer viewed as the solution to our power needs over the long term (as seen in this post from www.treehugger.com).  Nuclear, wind, solar, and other forms of renewable energy are becoming more and more mainstream.  Please note that I have included nuclear because I view it as a longterm source of energy and it doesn't contribute to the warming of the earth via greenhouse gas (GHG).

LEED looks to reduce the amount of energy required in our building by using energy more efficiently and designing buildings to take advantage of renewable sources of energy.

In practice, the best way to reduce energy use is to reduce building size...put simply don't design, construct, or renovate more building than you need.  Smaller buildings require less energy to heat, cool, light, and provide services like water and sewer.

In this area of LEED we get into designing the building envelope (i.e. the outer skin of the building) to ensure as little transfer of energy (heat) between the inside and outside environments.

This is important as heating and cooling a building can account for nearly 50% of the energy used.

Beyond reducing energy needs LEED pushes designers and builders to use available renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and wind.  Using these available sources of energy helps to reduce GHG emissions and save energy costs over the longterm.

Finally, LEED asks that the energy use be monitored for performance after construction and/or renovation to see what can be done to make the building even more energy efficient.

Who knows, perhaps all it will take to power your next home will be one bolt of lightning...after all it is a renewable source of energy. 

LEED Water Efficiency

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head...by Dionnie Warwick

I love water.  As we learn early in our education water covers most of the globe; however, freshwater (the kind we drink) is a very small percentage of the total (about 3%, most of which is held as ice at the poles).  Buildings use an astonishing 12% or 47 Billion gallons per day.  Anything that can be done to reduce this amount is a savings.

LEED differentiates water as:

• Indoor Water - used for indoor uses such as cooking, cleaning, drinking, toilets, showers, etc...
• Outdoor Water - used to irigate landscaping.
• Process Water - generally only used in commercial or industrial buildings such as boilers, cooling towers, and other industrial processes.

LEED doesn't try to eliminate water use other than perhaps by asking that landscapes be water efficient so only rainwater is required to keep them alive.  LEED does try and get water efficiency to be a major component of the building.  This is done by using low flow fixtures inside the building, with landscaping outside the building, and by keeping things small to reduce process water requirements.  Also, LEED gives points to buildings that are designed to store rain and gray water (i.e. water already used in showers and kitchens) and reuse it to water landscaping or as process water.

The questions is - Can we Americans do it? Are we ready for these efficient fixtures and systems to reduce water consumption, waste, and reuse of gray water and rainwater?

Part of me really hopes so, but part of me really loves the fountains of Las Vegas...