CREJ - Building Dialogue - March 2016
Would it surprise you to know that letting a faucet run for five minutes will use the same amount of energy as leaving a 60-watt light bulb on for 14 hours (EPA WaterSense program, www.epa.gov/watersense)? Think about your day and the amount of water you use for irrigation, showers, morning coffee and simply to clean your car. The trendy topic of water reuse is often focused on population growth and the desire to avoid paying for water to irrigate landscape, but it just may be that our focus should instead be driven by the energy and associated cost to create the clean water we use for everything from drinking to watering a lawn. Water, unlike electricity, is not something we can create within the boundary of a property to support the demands of a facility. It can be captured and controlled, but within the state of Colorado, owners are informed that without water rights, they do not have the authority to capture and use water that falls within their property. Within Colorado, water is owned, like land. It can be purchased, sold, transferred and conveyed separately from the property onto which it falls. A longstanding Colorado statute stipulates that all moisture that falls or is induced to fall within the state of Colorado is owned by the state. This water is then distributed to those who hold water rights through a system of prior appropriation, which, in simple terms, is a first-in–time, first-in-right ownership. In other words, whoever claimed or purchased the water rights first has the highest priority to use and even sell that water. The current model of urban water distribution begins with the capture of storm water in reservoirs. This water is treated and introduced into the water system, and users of this water are allowed a single beneficial use (whether it is to shower, clean or irrigate). The water is then released into the sanitary sewer system, where it is again treated prior to release for use by others. This means for every one-time use, we must supply the effort and energy to treat the water twice. This is true whether it is for drinking water, cleaning, showering or irrigation. To address this challenge, many water districts are working to expand the non-potable water system for irrigation demands, but what if we were to further the effort to both expand the use of non-potable water as well as allow private developments to implement on-site greywater and stormwater reuse systems for irrigation? The avoidance of dual treatment and the reduction of potable water use for irrigation would have a dramatic impact on both the energy and cost associated with water treatment. In May 2013, House Bill 1044 was signed into law allowing the municipalities the ability to consider greywater reuse. This law, however, simply stated the state would not stand in the way if municipalities and water districts wanted to entertain implementation in accordance with their decrees, contracts and permits. It did not go so far as to allow everyone the right to implement reuse systems at this time. While this initial step is critical to the topic of reuse, there are many additional steps still to pursue. Not only will the municipalities need to adopt separate regulations to both allow and define the parameters for reuse, but also the Colorado Plumbing Board must adopt a revision to the Plumbing Code to allow greywater piping within a building. As this bill was specific to greywater, it does not address the capture and use of stormwater that, without some method of augmentation, still will need to be released from the site. What if we find an affordable and replicable method to implement greywater reuse and to augment stormwater collection? What if we are able to reach consensus to modify the Plumbing Code? Would development accept the challenge and could it someday become the norm rather than the risk? Regulations and laws within Colorado often are leveraged as a crutch when we are faced with the opportunity to consider water reuse, and many times rightly so. We are certainly different from many other states where water reuse is not only allowed, but also encouraged. The state has started the movement by stating it will not stand in the way of some greywater reuse, but it is up to us to follow through on this opportunity and work to knock over this first domino of change.