Buildings and water conservation

A chara, – I refer to the article “Building better to address housing and climate crises” (Science & Climate, May 2nd). The Building Change project of the six schools of architecture in Ireland, with funding from the Higher Education Authority’s Human Capital initiative, sounds like a great initiative.

It would be great if the project would review how water is conserved and used in a new build or retrofit. A huge amount of water treated to drinking water standards is flushed down our toilets, every day, when our water treatment plants are struggling to meet water demand. Wouldn’t it be great to see new builds and retrofits incorporating water conservation into their design, which includes the use of rain water to flush toilets and for showering? That way we save the treated water for drinking, brushing teeth, cooking, etc. This would also result in reducing water abstraction rates at source or increasing the capacity and ability of the water treatment plants (and our waste-water treatment plants) to serve additional persons and therefore allow for more new builds.

The best of luck with those involved in this project. – Is mise,

DERVAL DEVANEY,