Water: More with Less

Although downtown Pittsburgh is surrounded by water—with the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela Rivers on each side and a hidden underground aquifer, the Wisconsin Glacial Flow, below—the infrastructural costs of drinking water still make it a precious natural resource. In the downtown Pittsburgh system, transporting and treating a single gallon of water requires enough energy to drive a car fifty feet.

The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is committed to using the least amount of drinking water possible. Our faucets, water fountains, and sinks are supplied with clean municipal drinking water. Just like paper or aluminum cans, this water is recyclable after use. The Convention Center’s own on-site graywater reclamation facility filters and sanitizes the building’s wastewater for uses that don’t require drinkable water (such as for flushing toilets). Using the graywater treatment facility saves over five million gallons of drinking water each year.

We conserve water outside the building as well. Planting species which are drought-tolerant and native or adaptive to southwestern Pennsylvania eliminates the need for regular irrigation. These species thrive on natural rainfall, so irrigation can be saved for use only in extreme drought situations. Aquifer water, another non-drinkable source, is used in the 10th Street water feature and in the building’s mechanical systems, saving an additional three million gallons of drinking water each year.

These innovative strategies have reduced purchased water consumption by 66%, saving natural resources and energy. As a result, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center uses thirteen gallons less per visitor than similar facilities.