{"id":90772,"date":"2026-06-25T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gresb.com\/?p=90772"},"modified":"2026-06-25T15:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T13:15:23","slug":"sector-by-sector-water-intelligence-multifamily-retail-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gresb.com\/sector-by-sector-water-intelligence-multifamily-retail-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Sector\u2011by\u2011sector water intelligence: Multifamily, retail, office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our industry is engaged in an important dialogue to improve the efficiency and resilience of real assets through transparency and industry collaboration. This article is a contribution to this larger conversation and does not necessarily reflect GRESB\u2019s position.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n Mapping water stress, operational intensity, and reduction potential across core sectors <\/h2>\n \n
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Water scarcity is becoming one of the most material environmental risks for commercial\u00a0real\u00a0estate. As drought severity, rising water\u00a0rates, and regulatory constraints intensify, investors are increasingly expected to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0sector\u2011specific\u00a0water management strategies.\u00a0The GRESB\u00a0Real\u00a0Estate Benchmark reinforces this\u00a0shift, emphasizing\u00a0water\u2011stress\u00a0exposure, operational performance, and\u00a0evidence\u2011based\u00a0reduction pathways. Within the GRESB\u00a0Real\u00a0Estate Benchmark, office, retail, and multifamily\u00a0are\u00a0consistently the most extensively benchmarked sectors.<\/p>\n

Two technologies are foundational to water sustainability reporting across all commercial sectors: smart irrigation controllers and continuous flow monitoring. Weather-based and soil moisture sensor-based irrigation systems reduce outdoor water demand by aligning schedules with actual site conditions. They eliminate overwatering, adjust for rainfall and vegetation needs, and detect mechanical failures such as broken heads or stuck valves. Flow monitoring complements this by providing real\u2011time consumption visibility, enabling accurate GRESB reporting even when owners lack direct access to water bills. Together, these capabilities form a closed loop: irrigation efficiency drives demand reduction, while flow monitoring verifies savings, detects anomalies, and ensures those gains are not lost to undetected anomalous use. These documented irrigation savings can help demonstrate year-over-year progress in water management and resource efficiency.<\/p>\n

Understanding how water use varies across office, retail, and multifamily properties is essential for\u00a0setting\u00a0credible targets, prioritizing capital, and\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0measurable performance improvements.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\n Multifamily (including senior housing): High domestic demand and high leak sensitivity <\/h2>\n \n
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Multifamily communities\u00a0represent\u00a0one of the most\u00a0water\u2011intensive\u00a0real\u00a0estate sectors due to continuous domestic demand and\u00a0high\u00a0occupancy density. Typical\u00a0water-use intensity (WUI)\u00a0averages\u00a045.2\u00a0gallons per square foot per\u00a0year, and over 126\u00a0gallons per square foot per\u00a0year\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0high\u00a0end, according to ENERGY STAR\u00a0Portfolio\u00a0Manager\u00a0water\u2011use\u00a0intensity benchmarks.<\/p>\n

Senior Housing falls within this category but\u00a0operates\u00a0at a measurably\u00a0higher intensity\u00a0with a\u00a0median WUI of 56.4 gallons per square foot per\u00a0year,\u00a0roughly 25%\u00a0higher\u00a0than\u00a0general\u00a0multifamily. Facilities run continuously and depend heavily on water for bathing, laundry, food service, and healthcare support. Many are in\u00a0water\u2011stressed\u00a0Sunbelt markets, and aging infrastructure increases both leak risk and potential impact,\u00a0making continuous monitoring\u00a0critical.<\/p>\n

Irrigation efficiency\u00a0represents\u00a0a major\u00a0reduction\u00a0opportunity in this sector,\u00a0and one that directly affects the owner’s bottom line. Unlike indoor water use, which is often metered and billed to residents, outdoor irrigation is typically the owner’s direct operating expense. For\u00a0garden\u2011style\u00a0communities with extensive landscaping, this\u00a0cost\u00a0exposure is significant,\u00a0particularly in regions where water rates have risen sharply over the past decade. In a\u00a0portfolio\u2011wide\u00a0deployment spanning 19 states and 29 metropolitan markets, a national multifamily operator achieved\u00a040\u201350% reductions in outdoor water demand using smart irrigation controls, as documented in this\u00a0Alliance Residential Case Study<\/a>. The portfolio included a mix of garden\u2011style and high-rise properties with diverse landscaping and climate conditions, and results were consistent across geographies, with some of the strongest savings occurring in wetter markets where the problem is less obvious, but just as costly when it goes unchecked. These are the kinds of measurable, sustained, portfolio-scale reductions that may support improved assessment outcomes and demonstrate progress over time.<\/p>\n

Flow monitoring\u00a0protects\u00a0the water\u00a0savings\u00a0from improved\u00a0irrigation\u00a0efficiency. Across multifamily communities,\u00a0HydroPoint\u00a0data shows that\u00a0continuous monitoring routinely uncovers leaks that would otherwise go unnoticed.\u00a0Real-life examples range\u00a0from a faulty\u00a0irrigation\u00a0valve flowing at 87 gallons per hour, to a running toilet producing 321 gallons per hour, to sustained flows exceeding 800 gallons per hour in a\u00a0garden\u2011style\u00a0property prior to\u00a0repair. Without this visibility, a single undetected leak can quietly offset months of\u00a0irrigation\u00a0savings\u00a0and\u00a0drive unnecessary\u00a0cost.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\n Retail: Irrigation\u2011heavy assets with high outdoor waste potential <\/h2>\n \n
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Retail properties,\u00a0especially\u00a0open-air\u00a0shopping centers,\u00a0are among the most\u00a0irrigation\u2011intensive\u00a0asset classes in commercial\u00a0real\u00a0estate. Outdoor water use can\u00a0represent\u00a0the majority of\u00a0total consumption,\u00a0particularly in landscaped centers\u00a0located\u00a0in\u00a0drought\u2011prone\u00a0regions. According to ENERGY STAR\u00a0Portfolio\u00a0Manager benchmarks, retail properties have a median\u00a0water\u2011use\u00a0intensity of approximately 5.2 gallons per square foot per\u00a0year, with the middle range spanning\u00a0roughly 3\u00a0to 9 gallons per square foot depending on climate, tenant mix, and landscape design. Because\u00a0irrigation\u00a0is both seasonal and\u00a0highly variable, retail\u00a0portfolios face elevated exposure to\u00a0water\u2011stress\u00a0conditions and tightening municipal restrictions.<\/p>\n

Irrigation\u00a0optimization is the\u00a0largest controllable source of savings\u00a0in this sector.\u00a0Kite\u00a0Realty Group<\/a> achieved 30.8 million gallons in annual savings across retail and office assets through weather-based scheduling and improved visibility, demonstrating the scale of reduction possible when outdoor water management is a priority. For GRESB Participants, these documented irrigation savings can represent a clear path to demonstrating year\u2011over\u2011year performance improvement.<\/p>\n

Flow monitoring provides the insurance that protects those gains. Retail environments, with large outdoor footprints and complex irrigation infrastructure, are prone to losses that compound quickly without continuous visibility. Examples from HydroPoint data include a broken main\u2011line coupling producing 4,000 gallons per hour, a lateral line leak running at nearly 6,900 gallons per hour, and stuck irrigation valves flowing at 925 gallons per hour. Even smaller issues, such as restroom fixtures running at 70\u2013150 gallons per hour or roof\u2011mounted cooling systems leaking thousands of gallons before detection, can erode irrigation savings if left unidentified. Continuous monitoring ensures that the efficiency gains that contribute to GRESB performance are not undermined by hidden losses elsewhere on the property.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\n Office: Cooling and irrigation as primary water\u2011use drivers <\/h2>\n \n
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Office buildings\u00a0exhibit\u00a0a distinct\u00a0water\u2011use\u00a0profile, with cooling systems and landscaped campuses driving\u00a0most of the\u00a0consumption. According to EPA’s\u00a0WaterSense\u00a0at Work best management practices, cooling towers can account for 20\u201350% or more of a facility’s total water use. ENERGY STAR\u00a0Portfolio\u00a0Manager benchmarks place the median office\u00a0water\u2011use\u00a0intensity at approximately 14.5 gallons per square foot per\u00a0year, with the middle range spanning\u00a0roughly 8\u00a0to 29 gallons per square foot, reflecting the significant contribution of cooling infrastructure. Rising water costs and increasing regulatory scrutiny in major urban markets are making water management a growing\u00a0component\u00a0of operational risk.<\/p>\n

Irrigation efficiency is the\u00a0most direct path to reducing outdoor use\u00a0for office campuses, particularly those with\u00a0large, landscaped\u00a0footprints. Weather\u2011based\u00a0controls routinely deliver\u00a0over\u00a030%\u00a0reductions in outdoor water use by\u00a0eliminating\u00a0overwatering, adjusting for precipitation, and\u00a0identifying\u00a0mechanical failures in real-time. At\u00a0Hanover Page Mill<\/a>, a LEED Platinum research campus in Silicon Valley, smart irrigation controls achieved a 55% reduction in outdoor water use while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0the drought\u2011tolerant landscape.<\/p>\n

These reductions are measurable, repeatable, and aligned with indicators related to resource management, consumption reduction, and target\u00a0setting\u00a0in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment.<\/p>\n

Flow monitoring protects those results by catching the losses that would otherwise go undetected, especially in office environments where low occupancy during evenings and weekends delays manual discovery. Reported HydroPoint cases include a cooling tower with a failed water\u2011level control wasting 331 gallons per hour, an irrigation valve that failed to close, generating 719 gallons per hour, and a main line break reaching 1,653 gallons per hour before detection. Without continuous visibility, these issues can persist for days or weeks, offsetting irrigation savings.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\n Conclusion <\/h2>\n \n
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Water risk is rising across global\u00a0real\u00a0estate markets, but sector-specific intelligence enables more targeted,\u00a0high-ROI action.\u00a0Office, retail, and multifamily assets,\u00a0representing\u00a0the core of GRESB\u00a0participation,\u00a0each exhibit distinct\u00a0water<\/span>\u2011use\u00a0drivers and reduction pathways. Senior Housing adds an important layer of intensity within the multifamily category, reinforcing the need for continuous monitoring and proactive management.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By combining efficient\u00a0irrigation\u00a0with\u00a0real<\/span>\u2011time flow monitoring and anomaly detection, owners can reduce consumption, protect savings, and strengthen resilience, while providing the data transparency required for credible GRESB participation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\n References <\/h2>\n \n
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “What Is Water Use Intensity (WUI)?” ENERGY STAR\u00a0Portfolio\u00a0Manager.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.energystar.gov\/buildings\/benchmark\/understand-metrics\/what-water-use-intensity-wui<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “WaterSense\u00a0at Work: Best Management Practices, Section 6.3 \u2014 Cooling Towers.”\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2023-05\/ws-commercial-watersense-at-work_Section_6.3_Cooling_Towers.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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This article was written by Jemetha Clark, Chief of Staff, Growth and Impact at HydroPoint Data Systems.<\/em> Learn more about HydroPoint here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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