Buildings consume nearly one-sixth of the total global fresh water for its construction and operational activities in addition to roughly 48% of global energy supply. It is prudent to ensure that designers and engineers make decisions based on not only the embodied energy (EE) and carbon (EC) but also the embodied water (EW) of construction materials. Steel, particularly structural steel, is an integral part of buildings that finds its use as a key structural material. However, the steel-making process is quite water intensive. In other words, the steel manufacturing process has a high embodied water footprint. In this paper, we examine how high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel can help reduce the embodied water footprint of a building structure. An input–output-based hybrid (IOH) model is used to estimate the total EW of buildings with vanadium microalloyed high-strength steel. Two 3-story buildings are modeled with reinforced concrete (RC) and steel structural frames to compare EW footprints. Results show that steel commodity has an EE, EC, and EW of 20,530 MJ/ton, 1790 kgCO2e/ton, and 1956 Gal./ton of steel, respectively. The IOH model is extended to determine the total EW of the two buildings. Results show that use of vanadium microalloyed high-strength steel instead of mild steel generates ca. 6% savings in EW, EE, and EC for a structural steel-framed building and ca. 14% savings in EW, and ca. 24% savings in EE and EC for a reinforced concrete-framed building. This underscores the significance of the role of HSLA steel in reducing the embodied water demand of building construction and highlights the importance of design decision-making based on EE and EW to achieve net-zero structures.