Plumbing code likely to go 'green'
by Charles Redell - 2.4.10
ONTARIO, CALIF.
Efforts to make it easier to use reclaimed and captured water in new construction got a new tool Feb. 1 when the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) formally released its Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement.
IAPMO’s new supplement is designed to be adopted as a supplement to any mechanical and plumbing code. It can also be included in whole or in part as mandatory code, including in the Uniform Plumbing and Mechanical code, according to Dave Viola, director of special services for Ontario-based IAPMO.
The committee that created the supplement used green building certifications such as U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and Green Globe’s commercial certification system as its baseline, according to Viola. “Those documents tell you that you get this many points for doing things a certain way, but they don’t tell you how to do it safely,” he says. Compared to today’s plumbing code, this supplement should decrease indoor potable water usage by 20 percent to 30 percent.
One of the main thrusts of the supplement is the use of rainwater, grey water and reclaimed water in buildings. Most codes have no guidance for how to implement these technologies. Jurisdictions that want to try or require them now have a method for doing so.
The supplement’s chapter on water efficiency was adopted as mandatory by the city of Los Angeles even before it was released, according to Viola. IAPMO is starting to work on the 2012 update of the Uniform Plumbing and Mechanical Code. Pieces of this supplement—which was designed to fill holes in California’s Green Building Codes—that are likely to be included in some form will address grey water and rainwater use in buildings, he says.
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