IGBC NET ZERO WATER BUILDING
With rapid economic growth and a growing population, decreasing per capita average annual water availability in India has become a cause for concern. Considering the present situation, water conservation has become necessity for every project. Buildings and built environment projects are responsible for more than 10% of total water consumption. In India, the raw water is primarily sourced from ground water and due to over-exploitation of ground water, several cities/municipal corporations are facing huge gap in water demand and supply.
Several buildings from different typologies adopted green building concepts to demonstrate 20-30% reduction in water consumption with respect to the national baselines. Green concepts primarily enabled projects to harvest rainwater, improved water efficiency, wastewater treatment and reuse of treated water in process and non-process applications.
To further improve the water performance in buildings and built environment projects, IGBC launched Net Zero Water Rating system in 2020. This rating is a tool which enables the designer to apply water efficiency concepts and adopt appropriate measures for harnessing alternate water to achieve Net Zero Water Status. In case of an existing building, the tool enables implementation of water efficient measures to reduce overall water consumption and encourages projects to meet rest of the water requirements through alternate water.
Benefits
IGBC Net Zero Water rating system enables reduction in water consumption and use of alternate water to meet the water demand. The benefits of adopting Net Zero Water concepts in a building/ project are as below:
- Improvement in water efficiency and hence reduction in annual water consumption to the tune of about 30-50% with respect to the National baseline.
- Overall reduction in water cost by 30%.
- Reduce dependency on raw water.
The intangible benefits of Net Zero Water include compliance to local regulation and promote water conservation. The rating system evaluates buildings on a performance-based approach. The rating system is evolved to be comprehensive and at the same time user-friendly.
The programme is fundamentally designed to reduce the water demand of a building and address national priorities such as:
- Reducing the National water demand by enhancing water efficiency.
- Harnessing alternate water to reduce water demand.
- Reducing dependency on raw water consumption.
- Promote water conservation at National level, to ensure water security
Overview
IGBC Net Zero Water System addresses water efficiency and encourages for harnessing alternate water. The guidelines detailed mandatory requirement & credit enables the design and construction of buildings/projects of all sizes and types (as defined in the scope).
IGBC Net Zero Water Rating System is designed for both New and Existing building and built environment projects. The project team can evaluate all the possible points to apply under the rating system using a checklist. The project can apply for IGBC Net Zero Water Rating System certification if the project can meet all mandatory requirements and is able to demonstrate that the Water Performance Ratio is at least 0.75.
A building or built environment project to achieve Near Net Zero Water certification, Water Performance Ratio (% use of alternate water to total water consumption) shall be more than 0.75 (but less than 1); to obtain Net Zero Water certification, net raw water consumption shall be zero and further to achieve Net Water Positive (Platinum rating) Status, the water given back to source shall be more than 1.05.
Scope
IGBC Net Zero Water Rating is designed for both new and existing building and built environment projects. These buildings include (but are not limited to) Offices, IT parks, Banks, Shopping malls, Hotels, Hospitals, Transit facilities (Airports Metro and Railway Stations), Convention centres, Educational institutions (Schools, Colleges, University campuses etc.) and industrial buildings (factory buildings and Warehouses).
Certification Levels
The threshold criteria for certification levels are as under :
| Certification Level | Recognition |
|---|---|
| Near Net Zero Water | Best Practices |
| Net Zero Water | National Excellence |
| Net Water Positive (Platinum) | Global Leadership |
IGBC will recognise Net Zero Water Buildings that achieve one of the rating levels with a formal letter of certification and a mountable plaque. Net Zero Water certification can be awarded either at Design Stage or during Operation. A building which achieves Net Zero Water Certification at Design State must showcase Net Zero Water Performance after one year of operation.
Fee Structure
Registration Fee*:
| Members | 25,000 |
| Non Members | 30,000 |
Certification Fee (w.e.f. 1 June 2022)*:
| Membership category | Built-up area: 5,000 sq m or below(INR) |
Built-up area: 5,001 sq m to 50,000 sq m (INR) |
Built-up area: 50,001 sq m & above (INR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IGBC Founding Member | 1,80,000 | 180,000 + INR 4 / sq m over & above 5,000 sq m | 3,60,000 |
| IGBC Annual Member | 1,90,000 | 190,000 + INR 4.25 / sq mover & above 5,000 sq m | 3,85,000 |
| Non-Member | 2,00,000 | 200,000 + INR 4.50 / sq mover & above 5,000 sq m | 4,05,000 |
- Fee is exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- Parking areas need not be considered as part of the built-up area
- Registration and Certification fees are non-refundable
- Membership discounts can be availed only if the Project Owner or Developer is a member of IGBC
Combined Certification Fee applicable for clients adopting multiple IGBC Net Zero (NZ) Ratings for the same project.
- In such cases, the certification fee should be calculated considering the following:
- The certification fee structure for EACH of the NZ Ratings would be same (consider as X).
- Same project adopting combination of any 2 NZ Ratings together - 100% certification fee would be payable for the first NZ Rating AND 60% of the certification fee would be payable for the second NZ Rating i.e. Total certification fee to be paid would be X + 0.6X = 1.6X
- Same project adopting combination of any 3 NZ Ratings together - Total certification fee to be paid would be X + 0.6X + 0.5X = 2.1X
- Same project adopting all 4 NZ Ratings together - Total certification fee to be paid would be X + 0.6X + 0.5X + 0.4X = 2.5X
- IGBC has a total of 4 NZ Ratings for the buildings and built environment viz. NZ Energy, NZ Water, NZ Waste and NZ Carbon. Details of NZ Carbon Rating would be updated in IGBC website in due course.
- Only 1 plaque would be awarded on a complimentary basis for projects adopting a combination of NZ Ratings. If the client wishes to have a separate IGBC plaque for each of the NZ Ratings, INR 20,000 + GST would be payable for each additional plaque.
- This would be valid only when the project is registered under multiple Net Zero Ratings together (individual registration form for the NZ Energy / Water / Waste / Carbon Rating must be separately filled and submitted together). Registration Forms are downloadable from the respective NZ Rating webpages. For such cases, the registration fee would be payable only once. However, separate project registration numbers would be issued under the applicable NZ Ratings.
Note: Projects which have been registered / certified previously under any IGBC Green Building Rating would need to register under IGBC Net Zero Rating(s) separately. However, such projects can also avail, if applicable, all the benefits of the combined Net Zero certification fee, as mentioned above.
.png){kind=icon}
