Clearing the Way for Water Savings in Plumbing Codes

A new green plumbing code supplement will facilitate water-conserving strategies, such as this rainwater harvesting system at the Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta.

With the words “water crisis” working their way into the common vocabulary, innovative strategies for conserving, reusing, and treating water are developing more quickly than ever—and some have hit a regulatory ceiling. The Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement, released in February 2010 by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), will now make it possible for states and municipalities to allow—and regulate—more progressive water-saving techniques without completely rewriting existing plumbing codes.

“The building codes are perhaps the biggest hindrance to the adoption of green buildings,” said Dave Viola, director of special services for IAPMO. “There’s so little information about how to do green systems properly and safely within existing building codes, so we’ve rolled out a document that shows exactly how it’s done.” According to Viola, the green supplement was designed to augment any plumbing and mechanical code, and its voluntary provisions are intended eventually to be folded into the Uniform Plumbing Code and the Uniform Mechanical Code.

The supplement addresses indoor plumbing and HVAC applications as well as alternative energy technologies like solar thermal and ground-source heat pumps. Viola told EBN that the measures outlined in the supplement would lead to water savings of more than 20% over most existing codes. He highlighted a provision for hot water systems that would save water by reducing wait times for hot water to come out of the tap; collecting rainwater, stormwater, condensate, and graywater to be repurposed for beneficial use onsite would also become more easily allowable, Viola said.

Admittedly, prohibitions on onsite rainwater collection—especially in western states, where they are prevalent—often have to do with long-established methods of granting private water rights and ideas that a raindrop collected before it hits the ground is a raindrop stolen from downstream neighbors, rather than with code issues. But those ideas may be changing—evidenced by legislative moves like the 2009 proposal by lawmakers in Utah to lift the statewide ban on collecting rainwater—and the supplement could help facilitate and expedite that process.

The green supplement does not address blackwater—water that has come into contact with food or human waste—and thus will not clear up issues raised by deep-green building rating systems like the Living Building Challenge, which requires that all water (including blackwater) be reused and treated onsite (see EBN June 2009). Efforts by municipalities such as Seattle (see EBN Feb. 2010) to allow code exemptions for such systems, however, indicate that there could be growing interest in code provisions for regulating these systems in the future.

The Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement was developed by IAPMO’s Green Technical Committee and task groups comprised of plumbers, mechanics, government officials, trade association members, contractors, engineers, manufacturers, and energy and water conservation authorities—in collaboration with city and state code officials from California, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, and Texas. The committee will reconvene in April 2010 to identify priorities for the future of the supplement; all such meetings are open to the public and IAPMO welcomes input and suggestions, Viola said.

– Andrea Ward

For more information:

IAPMO Green
www.iapmo.org/Pages/IAPMO_Green.aspx

April 1, 2010

DISCUSSIONS