Treating Water With Respect

Description | Indicators | Scoring Criteria | Definitions | Issues

Closed loop water recycling: Reusing process water indefinitely in the same production process. After initial charge of the system, losses to the system through leakage or intentional disposal should be insignificant.

Corporate improvement goals: Clear, quantified goals with a well defined baseline for reduction of water usage (for example, reduce carbon emissions per unit by 50% from year 2000 levels

Cradle-to-gate: Life cycle term describing the entire process of the production of the product from extraction or harvesting of the raw materials (the cradle) through all intermediate processing, refinement, and fabrication processes to the final completion of manufacture of the final product ready for sale (the factory gate). If the product utilizes recycled content, the extraction phase should be considered to begin at the "harvesting" of the recyclate - that is at the point of diversion of the material to be recycled from the waste stream.

CSI section numbers: Numbering system for organizing specifications developed by Construction Specification Institute used by Pharos. See CSI MasterFormat in PharosWiki.

Embodied Water: The quantity of water used directly or indirectly during the production of a product from cradle to gate. In the Pharos system the net embodied water is reduced by the amount that is reused elsewhere afterwards and half credit is provided for the percentage of input water that was reclaimed or rain harvested. This is calculated as follows:

W_E = (W_T - W_C)*(1-0.5*(W_R+ W_H)/W_T) where:
W_E = Embodied water of the product from cradle-to-gate
W_T = Total water input from cradle-to-gate.
W_R = Reclaimed water input from cradle-to-gate. Reclaimed water gets half credit.
W_H = Rain water harvested and input from cradle-to-gate. Rain water gets half credit.
W_C = Reusable water captured from anywhere in the cradle-to-gate process that is reused elsewhere for another process or product system. Reusable water that is actually reused gets full credit.

Grey Water: Wastewater from non-toilet plumbing fixtures including showers, sinks, faucets, and laundry facilities. Gray water does not typically include wastewater from dishwashers or food preparation streams. Gray water must typically undergo filtering and disinfection prior to reuse in indoor settings.

Product class: A group of products that perform a similar function, such as flooring, roofing, siding, or windows. Product classes may encompass multiple CSI section numbers.

Product class benchmark: Each of the categories in the Pharos system depend for scoring upon a quantified material flow indicator (such as embodied water, embodied energy, or climate change gas emissions), usually derived from life cycle inventory (LCI) data, or directly from manufacturer supplied input. Scoring in these categories is determined based upon how the specific product performs relative to the established benchmark value for its product class for that material flow. The benchmark value used for that product class will be determined by Pharos staff. The average, range, and quality of data of products in the Pharos database, along with the quantity and diversity of those products are factors that will be considered during establishment of the product class benchmark. Published industry values will also be considered. The methodology for establishing the benchmark, along with all relevant values used during the establishment of the benchmark value for the product class will be listed on the Pharos website.

Purple Pipe: Water provided by some municipalities in which the water has been recycled directly from municipal waste systems rather than extracted from a waterway. Reclaimed water is always filtered and processed - sometimes to a higher quality and sometimes a lower quality than standard potable water. It is generally used for irrigation and other non potable uses. Purple colored pipe is used to differentiate it from regular potable supplies.

Rain Water: (also storm water) Runoff water from precipitation, draining from roofs or parking lots and other paved, impermeable surfaces and stored for use after a storm event. Rain water quality can vary depending upon air quality and the condition of the collection surface, but rain water collected from roofs and other elevated structures is generally better quality than that collected from pavement due to the oil and other chemicals deposited on the pavement by vehicles that can be picked by the storm water.

Reclaimed Water: Water from a purple pipe system, gray water system, reclaimed from other processes within the plant or other reclaimed sources.

Reusable water: Water that is captured during the cradle-to-gate manufacture cycle of a product and re-used in processes for product systems other than the original product instead of being sent to sewers, evaporated in a cooling tower, or otherwise disposed of.

Total Water: All water input to the process cradle-to-gate, regardless of source. This is net water additions to the system only. Process water that is recycled back into the process should not be included in the total water usage.

Unit: The unit is the physical amount of the product that is being compared, such as one square foot of flooring or one foot length of pipe. For each product class, a standard "unit" is established.

Comments