Sustainability engineering and planning firm Brendle Group has spearheaded the groundbreaking Net Zero Water Initiative and launched the first-of-its-kind building scale software toolkit to achieve water neutrality.

With drought intensifying across western North America and a changing climate that means less water for growing populations, companies, organizations, and communities are increasingly facing risks and uncertainties for their water resources. Yet the tools to comprehensively assess current water use and quality, examine reduction scenarios, and take action have been lacking. The Net Zero Water Initiative fills this gap.

Net Zero Water is a first-of-its-kind water management concept that builds off the principles of net zero energy and climate neutrality. Net Zero Water, or being water neutral, means using only as much water as falls on your site and eliminating all water quality impacts from the site. In essence, Net Zero Water focuses on understanding your water footprint and taking action to reduce consumption and improve water quality whether you are a building owner, company, school campus, or community.

“Net Zero Water addresses an important gap in the water resource management conversation because of the resources it provides supporting sustainable water use amidst today’s many water challenges,” says Barb Martin, Senior Manager at American Water Works Association and Technical Advisory Group member for the Net Zero Water Initiative. “The Net Zero Water building scale toolkit is a useful tool because it provides a framework allowing organizations of all sizes to easily assess and improve site water usage to achieve their goals.”

To launch the Net Zero Water initiative, a user-friendly Microsoft Excel®-based analysis tool and companion guidebook (Net Zero Water Planning Toolkit) were developed with the help of a national project team, sponsors, and technical advisory group.

“The idea for Net Zero Water came from client requests for something akin to net zero energy and carbon neutrality, but for water,” says Brendle Group President Judy Dorsey. “It’s very fulfilling to see Net Zero Water mature from a concept, to a strategic company initiative, and now to a collaboratively developed, actionable tool that’s utilized in the field.”

The building-scale Planning Toolkit and companion guidebook are available for free download at: http://brendlegroup.com/water/netzerowater.

Subsequent phases will focus on modules for the building portfolio, campus, district/neighborhood, and community scales. Brendle Group is seeking volunteers to test the Toolkit, and sponsors for developing a toolkit at these larger scales.