This is a legacy version of the WELL Building Standard. Please check the latest version here.

Pesticide management

Approximately one billion pounds of pesticides are used in a typical year in the U.S. alone. Pesticides and herbicides contaminate rivers and streams, and seep into groundwater through runoff. A U.S. Geological Survey conducted in the 1990s detected pesticide compounds in virtually every stream in agricultural, urban and mixed-use areas, as well as in over 50 percent of sampled wells assessing ground water in agricultural and urban areas. Atrazine, one of the most widely used pesticides, is a suspected endocrine disruptor and is associated with cardiovascular problems. Long-term exposure to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, may lead to kidney problems and reproductive difficulties.

This feature requires the creation of pest management systems that reduce pesticide and herbicide use and eliminate highly toxic chemicals. Most pest management systems do not prohibit the application of harmful chemicals, so this feature further requires that only approved products are used.

Part 1: Pesticide Use

The following conditions are met for all pesticides and herbicides used on plants:

a. Pesticide and herbicide use is minimized by creating a use plan based on Chapter 3 of the San Francisco Environment Code Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program.
b. Only pesticides with a hazard tier ranking of 3 (least hazardous) as per The City of San Francisco Department of the Environment's (SFE) Reduced-Risk Pesticide List are used. Refer to Table A2 in Appendix C for more details.
Respiratory
Cardiovascular
Immune
Digestive
Reproductive
Endocrine
Nervous

Applicability Matrix

Core & Shell New & Existing Buildings New & Existing Interiors
Part 1: Pesticide Use P P -
Commercial Kitchen Education Multifamily Residential Restaurant Retail
Part 1: Pesticide Use - P P P P

Verification Methods Matrix

Letters of Assurance Annotated Documents On-Site Checks
Part 1: Pesticide Use Operations Schedule