Fall 2009
Water Resources
We begin with a view of water at the global scale, and a sense that water is a finite resource that is constantly being recycled. The course discusses water end uses on a national and regional scale and individual site, as well as the differences between residential and commercial scale projects. Wise water use in a sustainable project would follow this sequence: Need less, Reuse, Recycle, Site Capture and then Offsite Sources. Since landscape water use is often greater than water use inside buildings, we focus on water efficient landscape designs. Then we look at a range of alternative practices that are difficult to classify, including rainwater catchment, wastewater issues, including graywater and biological wastewater treatment systems.
Prerequisite(s):