Analyzing Water Use Embodied in the Initial Construction and Life Cycle Management of Healthcare Facilities

Abstract

Most research on the environmental sustainability of buildings often centers on reducing energy use and may overlook an equally crucial aspect of freshwater use. Buildings consume 1/5th of global fresh water in their construction as embodied water (EW) that must be reduced for long-term sustainability. Like embodied energy (EE), the EW of a facility is composed of a direct component used in construction processes and an indirect component that includes water used in manufacturing construction materials. An equally important component rarely covered in EW calculations is the energy-related embodied water (EREW), which comes from different energy sources that are consumed as EE, each of which depletes a significant amount of water in its generation, refinement, and transmission/transportation. This paper presents a macroeconomic model to compute and analyze not only the direct and indirect EW but also EREW of healthcare facilities. A wide variation is observed in calculated EW values associated with facilities’ initial construction (1,010-38,750 gallons/m²) and life cycle management (1,335-51,250 gallons/m²). The findings further show that EREW may represent 7.7% and 6% (average 6.7%) of the total EW of healthcare facilities relating to their initial construction and facilities management, respectively, including interior and exterior maintenance, repairs, and replacement activities. The significance of these findings is twofold. First, it shows that reducing EE may not help decrease most EW of a facility, and additional measures must be applied to decrease water use holistically. Second, it highlights the urgency of decreasing the water footprint of both renewable and non-renewable energy sources.