WE Calculator

An integrated water use and water efficiency calculator

User Guide

BASIN AIR-COND
SYSTEM

TOILET

BATH

SINK

IRRIGATION
 GBI WE Calculator
An integrated water use and water efficiency calculator
USER GUIDE

The integrated water use and water efficiency calculator consists of the following tabs:
1. Main Page
2. Water Fittings
3. Air Conditioning
4. Landscape
5. Water Features & Pools
6. Rainwater Harvesting
7. Report
8. Water flow diagram
9. Rainfall Stations Reference

1.0 MAIN PAGE

The main page provides a summary and overview of the water consumption distribution
of the building.

2.0 WATER EFFICIENT FITTINGS

Under this tab, water reduction analysis through the use of water efficient fittings is
computed.
2.1 Occupancy type & population
a) Occupancy types of up to 4 groups are defined for user selection

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4*

Club Facility Operations (in Not used** Not used**
Convention Centre relation to Group
Day guest/Function Apartment
Hotel 1 occupancy type
Multipurpose Kindergarten
Office Multipurpose
Single Dwelling
Retail Office
Serviced Apartment Retail
* Group 4 is for application where the water consumption is not taken into
accountunder WE1 (Rainwater harvesting) criterion such as apartment projects
where only common facilities are considered.
** For single occupancy type buildings, occupancy groups 3 & 4 are not applicable
and the occupancy type entry shall be set to “Not used”.
 Drop-down
down manual allows the selection of the occupancy type and the corresponding
default water fittings usage – number of uses and duration of use – will be loaded.

b) Occupancy
i) Occupancy (population)
The population density is calculated based on the following selected input:

• Occupancy units input (based on one of the following selection)

- no. of rooms
- no of apartments
- unit area in m2
- no. of units

• Occupancy density input (based on one of the following selection)

- persons per room or
apartment
- persons per m2
- m2/person
- persons per unit
- total no. of people

• Population distribution
Define male-female
female percentage distribution
ii) Occupancy Schedule
Define daily % occupancy of up to 4 weeks

For buildings that do not operate all year round (such as schools & universities) a
52-week
week schedule shall be defined in the following table;
c) Fittings usage
Usage of each fitting type to be defined (in uses per day and percentage of use)
i) Default values
If selected, the ‘stored’ usage (uses per day, duration per use and usage factors)
will be used in subsequent calculations.

25% x 4 = 1 time

75% x 4 = 3 times

25% x 4 = 1 time

0% x 4 = 0 time

75% x 4 = 3 times

ii) User defined usage

If a building fittings provision or usage differs from the default values, user has
the option to enter the relevant data in the “user defined” table.
User can alternatively copy the default values to the “user defined” table by
clicking on the ‘Copy Default Data’ tab for editing.
2.2 Water Efficient fittings performanc
performance input
Under this section, the user shall enter the performance of water efficient fittings to be
used in the building.
User input of water fittings performance are as follows:
a) Water closet – full flush & half-flush
half flush capacities (3 different fittings inputs are
available)
b) Urinal – usage per flush (2 fittings inputs are available)
c) Sink tap – flowrates (2 fittings inputs are available)
d) Wash hand basin – flowrates (4 fittings inputs are available in relation to each
occupancy grouping)
e) Shower – flowrates (2 fit
fittings inputs are available)
f) Bath – capacity (1 fitting input)
g) Bib tap – flowrate (2 fittings inputs are available)
h) Ablution tap – flowrate (2 fittings inputs are available)
2.3 Water reduction analysis

The potable
savings analysis
is carried out by
selecting the
corresponding
water efficient
fixture/fitting
for each of the
application
group.

Design Case

Cleaning/washing
Under this section, the number of fittings shall be entered to include water usage for
cleaning purposes namely:
a) Water closet
b) Urinal
c) Wash hand basin
d) Shower
2.4 Miscellaneous Usage
a) General washing
The usage of Usage of water for cleaning (floor) purposes is entered in this section.
Description of the applications can be made in the application column.

b) F&B and Laundry

The usage of water for F&B and laundry is entered under this section for
i) Hotel
ii) Single unit dwelling (e.g. bungalow) – use of water for cooking and laundry
The daily % operation of up to 4 weeks shall also be entered under this section for
the corresponding app
applications.

2.0 AIR CONDITIONING

a) Applicable for non-residential
residential buildings where water-cooled
water cooled air conditioning system
is used.
b) Up to four (4) systems inputs are available for air
air-conditioning
conditioning make
make-up water
calculation.
Data to be entered are occupancy type
type,, unit area, occupancy density, OA design
area, cooling load per unit area and condenser water temperature differential.
c) As the water make-up
up requirement is dependent on the ambient design conditions
and cooling tower selection, the following parameters are to be entered:
i) Drift loss (based on cooling tower selection – either specified or provided by
the manufacturer)
ii) Blow-down
down (dependent on treatment system cycle of concentration)
iii) Rate of evaporation loss (normally unchanged for standard design conditions) -
dependent on design parameters and weather conditions.
 d) Air conditioning system operation schedule
For the first 3 systems, the daily schedule shall follow the water fittings application
schedule.
For System A, the weekly schedule shall follow
f the 52-week
week schedule entered for
base occupancy water fittings application.
For System D, the daily % operation of the air conditioning system of up to 4 weeks
has to be entered.

3.0 LANDSCAPE
For landscape watering requirement, the inputs required are as follows:
a) Plant type (turf, shrubs, trees or palms)

b) Landscape area/qty distribution.

- m2 for turf and shrubs
- nos. for trees and palms
c) Select/define the following parameters
i) Rainfall intensity for watering cut
cut-off
off (5 to 10mm user to be selected)
ii) Irrigation type

• Manual

• Drip system

• Sprinkler system
iii) Watering requirement based on exposure

• Rain event dependent (landscape exposed to weather)

• Non-rain
rain event dependent (indoor, shaded or under building)
 iv) Irrigation strategy

• Daily watering

• Delayed watering (1
(1-day
day alternate watering/ 2 or 3 days delayed watering)
d) If rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling or condensate water recovery is/are
implemented to supplement the potable water consumption for landscape
irrigation, user shall define which of the 3 simulation systems serves the respective
landscape area.
There are four (4) options/systems selection:
i) 0 – selected if there is no system associated (use of potable water only for
landscape irrigation).
ii) 1, 2 & 3 – watering requirement will be exporte
exported
d to the selected system.

4.0 WATER FEATURES AND POOLS

For water features and pools make

make-up
up water requirement, the following inputs shall be
provided:
a) Identify type of water feature or pool and area (m2)
i) Water feature
ii) Pool
b) Select/define the following parameters
i) Rainfall intensity for make
make-up water cut-off
off (3 to 8mm to be selected)
 ii) Evaporation rate (3 to 8mm/day to be selected)
iii) Make-up water requirement base on exposure

• Rain event dependent (exposed to weather)

• Non-rain event dependent (indoor, shaded or under building)

c) If rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling or condensate water recovery is
implemented to supplement the potable water consumption for water feature and
pool make-up, user shall define which of the 3 simulation systems is serving the
respective water feature or pool.
There are four (4) options/systems selection:
i) 0 – selected if there is no system association (use of potable water only for
water feature make-up).
ii) 1,2 & 3 – watering requirement will be exported to the selected system.

5.0 RAINWATER HARVESTING SIMULATIONS

Simulation on the use of alternative water sources - rainwater, recycled wastewater and
air conditioning condensate water – to analyze the water saving potential that can be
carried out with the three (3) independent simulation systems provided.
Water consumptions from all the various applications namely:
a) Landscape
b) Water feature and pools
c) Air conditioning
d) Domestic consumption (water fittings, cleaning, F&B, laundry)
will be imported into the selected system

5.1 Water usage distribution

Depending on the number of rainwater harvesting/water recycling systems provided,
the distribution (or apportionment) of water consumption/applications (where
applicable) with the installations or systems have to be entered for the simulation
exercise.

Example 1
Building with only one (1) rainwater harvesting system.
For this type of development, only one simulation system will be used (Systems 2 & 3
will not be applicable/used), the entries under the “% served by this system” column
shall be entered as 100%.
For any application not utilizing any alternative water sources, a 0% may be inserted.
Example 2
A building with two (2) Rainwater Harvesting System with the following usage
distribution.
- 2 office spaces occupying 40% and 60% of NLA
- Air conditioning system located at Tower
Tower A (served by RWH System 1)
- Maintenance office (operations) located within carpark level (not served by any
system)

The percentage distribution entries for System 1 & 2 are as follows:

Example 3
A building with two (2) tower blocks and three (3) RWH systems.

The percentage distribution entries for System 1, 2 & 3 are as follows:

5.2 Wastewater Recycling
a) Selection of wastewater for recycling
The discharge from fittings for recycling are selected in the water fittings
consumption analysis tab as shown below.

The table above illustrates the wastewater discharge from sink taps and ablution
taps are selected for recycling.
b) Wastewater application
The application of recycled wastewater is carried out in the rainwater harvesting
simulations as shown in the table below.

c) Wastewater recycling quantity

The wastewater available for recycling is based on the total wastewater generated
from the selected fittings. The desired quantity of wastewater to be recycled can
 then be entered. The resultant annual wastewater recycled as well as the
percentage of wastewater recycled and required storage tank capacity will be
displayed.

5.3 Condensate Water Recovery

The quantity of condensate water generated will be based on the outdoor air load and
the required
ired input data are the number of occupants and the design outdoor air
requirement.

a) Condensate water application

From the table as shown below, the desired system application to utilize the
recovered condensate water shall be selected.

Depending on the selected application, the maximum available condensate water

for recovery per day will be displayed. The desired quantity of condensate water to
be recovered is entered and the resultant percentage of condensate water recovery
 of the overall air condition
conditioning
ing system and the required storage tank capacity will be
generated.
If the condensate water recovery is less than 50% of the overall air conditioning
system condensate discharge (i.e. the criterion requirement of recovery of 50% is
not met), a warning not
notice will be displayed.

5.4 Rainwater Harvesting

User inputs for the simulation are:
a) Rainfall station selection

b) Rainwater harvesting tank capacity (m3) & first flush diversion (mm)

(Note: The tank size entered here is the effective tank capacity required/to be
provided for capturing of rainwater. Additional standby storage above this capacity
 is to be provided to cater for dry weather or non
non-rain event days)

c) Roof catchment(s)

• Type (three (3) default types & 2 users are to be defined)

• Area (m2)

• Run-off
off coefficient (for user defined catchment type)
The total catchment area and resultant run
run-off
off coefficient will be calculated based
on these inputs for simulation.

d) Rainwater application
Entries for desired system application of rainwater shall be selected as shown
below.

e) Simulation results
Simulation results will be generated as illustrated below.
f) Rainwater Harvesting tank
A rainwater harvesting tank incremental size analysis is also provided. The graphs
display the relationship between
between the annual collectable/usable rainwater quantity
and the size of the rainwater harvesting tank.
As the effective use of rainwater is dependent on the intended applications, the
analysis serves as a guide to determine the appropriate size of the rainwater
rainwate
harvesting tank to be provided.