Simplest Way to WELL: Water
Full disclosure: one of my client’s businesses focuses on water filtration in NYC. So I’m fully aware of how complicated this problem is, and also that my perspective on the right solutions are biased. To that end, I’m going to avoid name-dropping or saying one product is better than another.
Meeting the WELL standard for the Water feature in NYC is remarkably simple. And not because NYC has such great water, which is arguable, but because the city’s done half the work for you.
NYC is one of the few cities in the US that gets a waiver from the EPA for filtration. In return for this waiver, the city has to provide an exhaustive amount of reporting on the water conditions in the city. And we can use that reporting to find the easiest interventions.
As with the Air feature, the first thing you need to know is that WELL will require reports at least once a year. You have to send WELL the following information:
- Water parameters (turbidity, pH, and residual chlorine)
- if the residual chlorine is undetectable, report the total coliforms - documentation of monitoring results, corrective actions and Legionella sample results as stated in the Legionella management plan (more on this later)
If you could setup yearly reporting for Air, you can probably muster up the energy to do it for Water.
Also, while you’re at it how about some water fountains? Now before you go, “but the architect said…” or “the engineer didn’t plan for…”, here’s the WELL standard:
- The project provides at least one drinking water dispenser, plus one drinking water dispenser per dwelling unit.
That’s pretty self-explanatory. Have a water fountain. C’mon. You can do it.
Next, basic water quality.
The WELL standard needs:
- Turbidity less than or equal to 1.0 NTU
- Coliforms not detected in any 100 ml sample.
The 2019 drinking water supply report from NYC.gov states:
- Turbidity — source water: 1.2 NTU
- Total Coliform Bacteria (% of samples positive/month):
0.0014% over the year
So, you’ll need to handle turbidity and coliforms. Yes, you could get a sample that meets the WELL standards. But one failed sample, years after you’ve built the building, would fail the WELL standard. So why play the numbers game?
Just put a filter where the water main enters the property (‘point-of-entry’ in engineer-speak). Your best bet is a self-cleaning 10 micron screen filter. You should be careful how big that filter is though. Depending on how many gallons per minute you need to handle, it might be huge.
Coliforms are best handled with UV treatment, which can be bolted to the output of the screen filter. Why not the input? Well, UV works best in clear water. So, filter it first, then blast it with UV.
Now, the actual drinking water conditions. There is a shopping list of parameters, which I’ll include at the bottom. That said, NYC’s water report shows them to be below the WELL standard, non-detectable, or just flat out not used in the United States. Problem solved.
Next concern is a doozy. Our horrible friend, Legionella. WELL requires that there is a plan in place to address this horrible little jerk.
Then again, so does NYC local law 77 and Title 24. So, meeting the WELL standard is just a side effect of meeting the requirements of the local government.
Okay, so not really a doozy after all.
And that, as they say, is that.
Here’s the list of drinking water standards for WELL:
Arsenic ≤ 0.01 mg/L.
Cadmium ≤ 0.003 mg/L.
Chromium (total) ≤ 0.05 mg/L.
Copper ≤ 2 mg/L.
Fluoride ≤ 1.5 mg/L.
Lead ≤ 0.01 mg/L.
Mercury (total) ≤ 0.006 mg/L.
Nickel ≤ 0.07 mg/L.
Nitrate ≤ 50 mg/L
Nitrite ≤ 3 mg/L
Total chlorine ≤ 5 mg/L.
Residual (free) chlorine does not exceed 4 mg/L.
The concentration of total trihalomethanes is 0.08 mg/L or less.
The concentration of haloacetic acids is 0.06 mg/L or less.
Aldrin and Dieldrin (combined): 0.00003 mg/L or less.
Atrazine: 0.1 mg/L or less.
Carbofuran: 0.007 mg/L or less.
Chlordane: 0.0002 mg/L or less.
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D): 0.03 mg/L or less.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and metabolites: 0.001 mg/L or less.
Lindane: 0.002 mg/L or less.
Pentachlorophenol (PCP): 0.009 mg/L or less.
Benzene: 0.01 mg/L.
Benzo[a]pyrene: 0.0007 mg/L.
Carbon tetrachloride: 0.004 mg/L.
1,2-Dichloroethane: 0.03 mg/L.
Tetrachloroethene (Tetrachloroethylene): 0.04 mg/L.
Toluene: 0.7 mg/L.
Trichloroethene: 0.02 mg/L.
2,4,6-Trichlorophenol: 0.2 mg/L.
Vinyl Chloride: 0.0003 mg/L.
Xylenes (o-, m- and p-): 0.5 mg/L.
