Graywater Reuse to Irrigate a Living Wall at Bertschi School

The Bertschi School Living Science wing is an award-winning building located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, completed in 2011, which includes a small classroom, science lab and ethnobotanical garden. It was the first building certified under the Living Building Challenge V2.0, considered the most stringent green building certification in the world. Among other deep green features, the project reuses greywater from handwashing sinks to irrigate an interior living wall. This helped the project achieve “Net Zero Water” as defined by the Living Building Challenge, i.e. a building that collects, treats and infiltrates all water used on the site. To meet state and local code requirements, the greywater system had to have a conventional overflow connection to the city sewer but under normal operation, no water is sent down these pipes.

Washington Middle School Rain Water Harvesting

Washington Middle School installed a rainwater catchment system. There is a large fiberglass cistern in the ground used to collect rain water from the roof. This system uses the water from the cistern to flush toilets throughout the school. Although no permits were obtained for the school to install the system, the catchment system was installed as part of the Washington State Senate Bill 5509.

Photovoltaic Roof Mounted Array at Washington Middle School

Washington Middle School installed a 1.1 KW solar photovoltaic array on the roof of the library. The permit for the panels took over four months to be approved. The panels were installed as part of the Washington State Senate Bill 5509. The panels offset energy costs throughout the school.

Rainwater Harvesting for Potable Use at the Bertschi School

The Bertschi School Living Science wing is an award-winning building completed in 2011, which includes a small classroom, science lab and ethnobotanical garden. It was the first building certified under the Living Building Challenge V2.0, considered to be the most stringent green building certification in the world. The LBC’s Net-Zero Water imperative requires on-site supply, treatment and reuse of all the building’s water needs. They met this in part by installing an innovative rainwater harvesting system that uses filtration and sanitation to treat water for potable use by the school’s staff and students.