By Hilary Nardone, Environmental Group Training Manager
Certified ASSE 12080 Legionella Water Safety and Management Specialist

As buildings reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic, many facilities are looking to strengthen the safety and efficiency of their buildings and building tenants.LEED, WELL, and FitWel are all building standard certifications for existing and new construction and all three include water management best practice requirements.

Below are some of the ways in which Barclay Water Management, Inc. can assist in helping your facilities earn credits for LEED, WELL, and FitWel building standards:

LEED[1]: Barclay can assist in your facility earning cooling tower credits in the Water Efficiency (WE) category:

• WE Credit 4.1 – Chemical Management – Barclay develops Water Management Programs for cooling towers and evaporative condensers that address chemical treatment, biological control, and staff responsibilities. Barclay also offers remote water treatment capabilities that allow chemical feed adjustments and access to water test results and log data. Proper chemical dosage and routine cleanings can reduce both bacteria growth and scale buildup growth, while also maintaining heat transfer. Maximizing the number of water cycles through the cooling tower system will increase the tower’s productivity by minimizing blowdown water quantity and reducing make-up water demand. Barclay has disinfected and cleaned hundreds of cooling towers and is an expert in cooling tower chemical treatment. Barclay is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and has LEED AP BD&C-Accredited personnel on staff.

WELL Health Safety-Safety Ratings [2]: Barclay can provide guidance to help you earn credits in the Water Concept category for drinking water assessment services.

• Barclay can offer assistance and direction to obtain drinking water quality indicator testing and interpretation which includes, but is not limited to, coliforms, metals including lead and copper, and disinfectant byproducts such as TTHM and HAA5. 
• Barclay has developed and implemented Water Management Programs to reduce Legionella bacteria amplification in potable and non-potable building water systems.

FitWel[3], [4] : Barclay can help satisfy the requirements within Section 9.3 – Water Quality:

• Barclay offers drinking water quality testing using accredited, third-party labs including, but not limited to, arsenic, lead, copper, coliforms, nitrates, vinyl chloride and Legionella bacteria.
• Barclay also develops and implements Water Management Programs (WMP) that include components such as, but not limited to, WMP team, flow diagrams, written water use descriptions, hazard analyses, control measures and monitoring schedules, corrective actions, WMP verification and validation, and documentation. Each WMP developed and implemented by Barclay Water Management is in compliance with ASHRAE Standard 188-2018, the CDC, The Joint Commission, and state and local public health departments.

A controlled water treatment program is an essential element for safe and efficient buildings and helps facilities meet prestigious building standard certifications. Barclay Water Management, Inc. is an industry leader in both cooling tower water treatment programs and bacteria risk mitigation programs and can assist you in obtaining LEED, WELL, and FitWel credits in water management best practices.

[1] U.S. Green Building Council.LEED: Cooling tower water management.https://www.usgbc.org/credits/we5?view=language

[2] WELL Certified.Concepts/Water/Feature W01: Water Quality Indicators. https://v2.wellcertified.com/wellv2/en/water/feature/1

[3] FitWel.Reference guide for the FitWel certification system: Workplace.V2.1 Standard. Published January 2020.

[4] FitWel.FitWel water management program standard.V2.1 Standard.Published January 2020.