Pursuing Positive Water Quality Outcomes in a Healthy and Sustainable Built Environment: A Preliminary Literature Review

摘要

Green and healthy building certification systems increasingly motivate stakeholder decision making and serve as influential guides for sustainable design and construction. These codes promote water-use efficiency through measures such as low-flow features and rainwater reuse. Health-oriented guidelines like WELL particularly emphasize water quality. However, reduced flow and increased water age can produce a variety of negative water quality outcomes, posing occupant health risks including increased opportunistic pathogen growth in premise plumbing systems. Notably, there is little research on the influence of green and healthy building guidelines on resulting water quality and safety. This preliminary literature review summarizes current academic knowledge of water quality and microbial concerns in low-flow systems and the present and potential roles of green and healthy building codes and certification programs in effecting in-building water quality outcomes. Based on this review, notable research, industry, and policy gaps and key points for further research are identified. Priority topics for future investigations should include appropriate risk-evaluation methodologies; the impacts of specific technical and management interventions, such as the relationship of water heater temperature and microbial growth risk; and advancing exploration of the mitigation avenues which could be advantageously promoted through green and healthy building codes.