Amid global water concerns and understanding ferocious water consumption in building construction entails attending to the construction embodied water (EW)- an infant realised domain. Let alone the practised embodied energy (EE); the study attempts to unleash a pragmatic guide to building construction sustainability through the EW-EE nexus. The cradle-to-gate study covers three conventional Indian houses in Jammu. It complies with general ISO-14044 and 14046 frameworks while consulting both-Indian and global material-wise EE and EW consumption databases. The hybrid approach adopted involves quota sampling, field-based investigations, descriptive statistics, and regression plots. The comprehensive system loop analysis seeks disaggregated (house-wise) and aggregated results. The Indian constructions reflect improved 7158 MJ/m2 EE but severe 16.7 kL/m2 EW vis-à-vis global scientific studies. Steel is no-longer the topmost EW-impacting material for Indian conventional houses, while stone aggregates, finishing, and decoration materials stand apart in elevating EW. Unearthing the weak EW-EE relationship underlines the incapability of EE-driven research to address EW effectively in the houses. As it stands, Architectural plus design (A + D) decision-making aiming to reduce EW also checks EE. Thus, EW deserves contemplation rather than EE alone in realising a holistic, sustainable built environment (SBE). Alongside consolidating EE research, the scarce EW domain receives much-needed dissemination. Besides striving to stimulate the scientific community, outcomes like the identified materials template are valuable for devising policy and A + D advocacy vis-à-vis EW-EE conservation. Seeking conventional building construction and design solutions through the EW-EE nexus is novel and meets multiple 2030 sustainable development goals.
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