Sampling Water Fixtures in LEED v4 O+M

Green Building Team on October 28, 2019

Each month we’re highlighting an interesting question you posed to LEED Coach Canada regarding LEED v4/v4.1. LEED Coach Canada is supported by a collaborative team of professionals with diverse technical backgrounds located across Canada. For insightful answers to your LEED questions, email LEEDCoach@gbcicanada.ca.

Question: For the LEED v4 O+M Water Efficiency prerequisite: Indoor Water Use Reduction, is it acceptable to test a sample of water fixtures when manufacturer’s documentation is not available?

Jessica Heiss, LEED Reviewer, answers: If the manufacturer or testing company cannot provide the rated flow rate for fixtures installed within the building, project teams may use on-site tests to report the most accurate volume of water use. This should be done by testing a sample (i.e., 20%) of each installed fixture type at the building’s water pressure. The design case calculations would use the actual measured flow rate of the fixtures installed in the project, and the baseline calculations would use the LEED baseline flow rates included in the LEED v4 Indoor Water Use Reduction Calculator.

More News

Driving lasting impacts through positive influence, with Russell Horne

Through technical expertise and commitment to innovation in his role as Manager of…
August 20, 2025

Changing of the guard on key steering committees

CAGBC relies on amazing volunteers to support our rating system development and implementation.…
August 20, 2025

New LEED v5 resilience credits to provide much-needed guidance

To keep people safe, extend a building’s life cycle and protect affordability, resilience…
August 14, 2025

Changing attitudes for sustainable business models, with Jonathan Westeinde

A popular face of Canadian sustainable real estate development, Jonathan Westeinde has led…
August 11, 2025