Doral Glades Park Obtains a Florida Water Star Certification

Press Release 

DORAL, FL – Doral Glades Park, Doral’s newest park, has obtained the Florida Water Star Certification becoming the first park, city or otherwise, to achieve this certification in the State of Florida.

“The Florida Water Star program staff congratulates the City of Doral for its recent Florida Water Star Commercial and Institutional certification for the Doral Glades Park. The city has gone the extra mile in both the design and implementation of a park that includes a landscape with many site-appropriate natives plants, an efficient irrigation system that is scheduled to maximize water savings, and indoor plumbing fixtures that are highly efficient and Water Sense labelled,” said Deirdre Irwin, Water Conservation Coordinator and Florida Water Star Coordinator for St Johns River Water Management District regarding the certification of Doral Glades Park.

“This accomplishment can serve as an example for other local governments seeking to protect local water resources and invest in sustainable landscaping.”

During the planning and design of Doral Glades Park, considerable focus was made on conservation and green building practices.

In the initial stages of the project, the City decided to seek a Florida Water Star Certification for the site and worked together with the design team to ensure the design and implementation met the required criteria for certification. The certification process included a rigorous site inspection in which program inspectors check the efficiency of the sites irrigation system, landscape, and indoor plumbing fixtures.

In addition to receiving the Florida Water Star Certification, Doral Glades Park was also the recipient of Two Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative (GBI) for resource efficiency and reduction of environmental impacts, as well as, an honorable mention for the 2019 Green Globes Project of the Year.

The Florida Water Star Program is a water conservation certification program aimed at water efficiency. The program was developed by the St. Johns River Water Management District in 2006 and became a statewide program in 2012.

Most recently, Florida Water Star became part of the FHBA Certified Ratings Program and is now administered by Triconic LLC. This program can be effectively integrated into projects along with other programs such as ENEGRY STAR, the Florida Green Building Coalition’s (FGBC) green standards, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED program.

The Florida Water Star prescriptive approach can enhance projects by providing a suite of efficiency practices that focus on water use areas specific to Florida.