City of Oceanside Strikes Sustainable Gold
OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The City of Oceanside hosted a grand opening on November 8 to celebrate the City’s first LEED-certified project. The new Mission Basin Groundwater Purification Facility Operation Building, located at 215 Fireside Drive, achieved LEED Gold certification through the LEED green building program.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building program is the preeminent program for the design, construction, maintenance and operations of high-performance green buildings.
To achieve this certification, the facility’s new operations building features many environmental strategies including efficient lighting, ultra-low water use fixtures and a high quantity of material with recycled content.
“The LEED for New Construction rating system is one of the most rigorous, comprehensive and widely accepted green building rating systems in the world,” said Cari Dale, City of Oceanside’s Water Utilities Director. “To earn Gold certification on our first effort is fantastic. Adhering to LEED building standards is just one of the many environmental commitments that the City of Oceanside has made to pursuing sustainable green practices for our community.”
The building replaces several modular trailers, which were constructed in 1992 when the treatment plant was a smaller scale production plant with an output of 2.2 Million Gallons per Day. Over the past 25 years, the facility has expanded to produce up to 6.4 Million Gallons per Day of locally supplied water from the Mission Basin. The new building provides working space for water treatment operations to operate and monitor the plant, for distribution operations, and also includes a laboratory and meeting space. The area previously occupied by the modular trailers is now available for expansion of the treatment plant in the future. Over the past decade, the City has been exploring expansion of the plant via wells located in the Harbor and is currently conducted environmental work for an Indirect Potable Reuse Project to recharge the aquifer.
LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and provides a framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings. Some of the benefits of a LEED building include occupant health, efficient building performance, resource efficient material/product procurement and operational dollar savings.
Some of the highlighted project achievements include; reductions of potable water usage by 31% indoor and 68% outdoor, 1005 of regularly occupied space has quality natural daylight which further reduces daily energy usage, 85% of material was recycled during construction, and the facility was built with 29% recycled content material 17% of which was locally sourced.
“Earning 60-plus points for Gold level certification is an extraordinary achievement, especially for a building of this size,” said Russ Cunningham, City of Oceanside Principal Planner, “LEED Gold certification represents the City’s strong commitment to highly integrated, sustainable design, responsible materials sourcing, and low-impact construction practices. This facility sets an extraordinary example for future development in Oceanside – not only in the municipal realm but in the private sector, as well. Achieving LEED Gold certification is an accomplishment the City of Oceanside can take pride in and celebrate.”
For more information, visit www.ci.oceanside.ca.us
About Green Oceanside: Green Oceanside is the City’s environmental campaign and is dedicated to teaching residents and local businesses how to be better stewards of the Earth by recycling, reducing waste, composting, preventing water pollution and litter, and using water and energy efficiently. For more information on all of the City’s environmental programs and services please visit www.greenoceanside.org or download the Green Oceanside Mobile App available for free from the Apple and Android app stores.
