Water sustainability is a crucial aspect for the real estate developer interested in constructing buildings that are sustainable and responsive to the environs. As a basic and natural resource, the importance of water for life and sustainment of living things cannot be overemphasized, and its conservation and maximization as such should be stressed.

Principles of Water sustainability for green architects and developers

Since that water is copiously obtainable in our lakes and seas, the importance of water conservation in buildings may be seem ridiculous. However one needs to keep in mind that water that is potable and straight off utilizable by man for his day to day activities, be it in the home or the workplace, is not in limitless quantity. Thus good, clean and usable water is not easy to get all the time and must be conserved. Water that is not from fresh water bodies such as sea water, happens to be most available all over the place. Unfortunately this water is not pure enough for human consumption and requires to be processed first before use.

A number of developed countries have selected to harness the water from the sea and purify it for the use of their urban communities. This is an arduous process that requires much energy to be able to remove salt content and impurities from the water. This water is then distilled and finally purified ready for domestic use. As mentioned however, this is an energy intensive process, and requires a reliable source of power for it to be viable.

Green development must harness water sustainability for greater profitability to building developers

In our urban communities, there is often limited amount of fresh water resources that are available for domestic use, either through water reservoirs or even actual fresh water bodies in close proximity. In many cases, water has to be harvested from somewhere and treated for it to be usable in homes and daily activities. This is done in economical quantities, bit by bit. As such, there is a limitation in the amount of water that is available.

Therefore it is important that in the wake of urbanization, it is important that green architects and planners must ensure during design that water supply to whatever urban development is guaranteed and in amounts that are plentiful enough to accommodate rapid growth of population. It becomes vital that water sources are properly identified and tapped into, even though they may not be sufficient to support human population beyond certain limits.All too often, a planned water source may be adequate for a development at the point of its occupation. A good urban plan may have been prepared for a twenty year cycle or so, based on prevailing user needs and available economic constraints.

It is expected that after that time period, the growth of the urban development shall have reached a point where its physical planning would require to be overhauled. This notwithstanding, sometimes rapid population growth of the urban center or facility outstrips the pace of its planning timeframe, resulting in lopsided unsupported growth. For example, a water system that was planned for only a certain population for a 20 year plan may need to be overhauled in only ten years if the pace of population growth is greater than what was initially forecasted.

Water sustainability should be planned for within building developers planning

It is important for infrastructural services to buildings to be thorough and encompass every building service required, including water supply and reticulation. Management of this precious resource can be broken down into the following areas;

• Dealing with the management of clean water supplied to a building
• Management of  waste water and sewerage·
• Management of water that is naturally incident from rainfall or flowing from existing water bodies

By integrating these areas of water management, the green architect can go a long way towards achieving sustainability as regards water resources. Any green architect or developer interested in undertaking a real estate development project should be able to integrate these elements of water sustainability within their projects.