Water Conservation: Every Drop Counts

By Susan Ecker

Rumsey Engineers Inc.

Many parts of the U.S. are experiencing abnormally dry to drought conditions. This will have an adverse impact on agriculture as well as household and business consumers. Last year, Northern California, as well as many other parts of the country, experienced less than average rainfall. If this trend continues, it will have an adverse impact on consumers. What can be done?

Some say that agriculture uses so much water that any attempt at water conservation on the residential/commercial side will be inconsequential. This is untrue. Every drop of clean drinking water should be conserved. If each person would conserve, it would make a huge difference.

From 1860 to 1912 there were no water restrictions on plumbing fixtures. From 1960 to 1980 the flowrate ranged from 5 to 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf) for a water closet. It was not until the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) set limits on water consumption of fixtures and faucets sold in the U.S. They are:

• Toilets: 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf)
• Urinals: 1.0 gpf
• Showerheads: 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at 80 psi
• Faucets: 2.2 gpm at 60 pounds per square inch (psi)
• Metering faucets: 0.25 gallons per cycle, maximum

In 2004, high-efficiency toilets (HET) were introduced which included dual-flush toilets [1.6 gpf (solids)/0.8 to 1.1 gpf (liquids)] and single-flush toilets, which have a flush rate of 1.28 gpf.

Effective implementation of water efficiency measures (landscape irrigation is not discussed in this article, but water conservation measures dealing with landscape irrigation should be implemented) can extend the life of both water and wastewater treatment plants by allowing larger populations to be served with existing infrastructure. If a municipality does not have to build new infrastructure consumers will save money. Two actions must occur for water conservation to take off in earnest. One deals with modifying the behavior of the consumer and the other with infrastructure changes. Both of these are vital to water conservation.

Demand Management

Demand management can be used to get people and organizations to use less water. This can be accomplished in two ways: behavior modification and infrastructure changes.

Behavior Modification

The plumbing community must help the general public become more aware of how they are using water and how they can change their water usage patterns. For example, consumers can:

• Take shorter showers. 
• Install water-saving showerheads or flow restrictors. These can be purchased at a local hardware or plumbing store. Visit the Water Wiser website to find out more about water saving devices -- www.waterwiser.org.
• Turn off the water while brushing teeth. Run as much water as needed, then turn off the tap until more is required.
• Rinse razor in the sink. Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of warm water. Rinse the razor blade just as easily as with running water and less wastefully.
• Check toilets for leaks. Drop a bit of food coloring or a leak tablet into the toilet tank. If color shows up in the bowl within a few minutes, there is a leak. A leaking toilet wastes up to 60 gallons of water per day.
• Install a low-flow toilet. New toilet models use 1.6 gpf, considerably less then older models which use up to 6 gpf.

This is all about education. If the consumer knew how many gallons of water they were wasting each month or year they would be astonished and would probably change their habits. Since they don't know the adverse impact they are having they cannot look for ways to save this precious resource -- water.

Americans appreciate saving money. When it comes to water efficiency they must be educated about how to save water and money. This can be accomplished by making the public aware of local residential water conservation programs. Utilities have rebate programs if fixtures are replaced with water conserving fixtures. EPA has a new water-efficient product labeling system called WaterSense. It is hoped that WaterSense will do for water conservation what the Energy Star program has done for energy efficiency.

Infrastructure Changes

Infrastructure changes require making physical changes that do not require any change in consumer behavior. It is difficult to change old habits. Some consumers may find it difficult to shut off the water while brushing their teeth, but it is necessary. There are ways that the consumer can save water that go hand-in-hand with the behavior modifications noted above. Water conservation is supported by many of the utilities evidenced by the fact that they have rebate programs associated with the replacement of old plumbing fixtures with low-flow fixtures. Consumers can replace those old water-guzzling toilets with a water saving model, install low-flow aerator on faucets and repair leaks in the piping system.

The savings that can be achieved can be measured based on a water bill from the previous year. The savings in gallons of water per year should be significant.

Benefits of Water Conservation

Just as saving energy is cheaper than finding new supplies it is the same with water. By conserving water, energy associated with pumping and treatment will be saved. Treatment is performed by the use of chemicals and the less water that needs to be treated the fewer chemicals that are used.

Water use in California consumes significant amounts of electrical energy. Preliminary estimates indicate that total energy used to pump and treat this water is 20% of the total electricity used in the state per year. This is a staggering statistic when you think about the size of the state of California. Water consumption also feeds into the global warming issue.

Innovation

In addition to behavior modifications, water conservation needs to be addressed by implementing new ideas. In order to get new water efficient products on the market the codes may need to be changed in order to accommodate innovation. The amount of water that is reused and amount of rainwater that is harvested also needs to increase considerably.

New Codes & Legislation

The water efficiency criteria that we are currently working with is from 1992. This needs to be updated. There should be more stringent water efficiency requirements in order to conserve as much as we can in homes and businesses. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program promotes water conservation and encourages innovative ideas to use water efficiently. But these innovative ideas cannot be implemented unless the codes and code enforcement officials allow the engineering community to implement changes.

Reuse: Implementation of water reuse (wastewater that is cleaned for nonpotable use to be reused again) should be expanded. This system is commonly referred to as purple pipe system. The major uses are irrigation, cooling towers, process water, toilet and urinal flushing.

Rainwater Harvesting: The model plumbing codes do not address rainwater harvesting systems. The only way to be able to use the rainwater for flushing water closets is to gain the approval of the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) on a case-by-case basis. The codes should be updated to include rainwater harvesting systems in order to aid in water conservation.

Composting Toilets and Zero Water Consumption Urinals (ZWC): Composting toilets are not allowed by the current model plumbing codes. There are composting toilets installed successfully in buildings but they were allowed by the good nature of the plumbing planchecker and inspector. The composting toilets on the market today are "not our father's composting toilets." They have come a long way and they are not the same composting toilets as the ones you find in parks. The ones used inside buildings can be interlocked with a fan that keeps the toilet room from having an odor. 

The International Plumbing Code allows ZWC but the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) does not. In some jurisdictions that use the UPC the ZWC are allowed because the AHJ has made local modifications to the code. Pilot programs have been performed and many have determined that if the ZWC is maintained according to the manufacturer's recommendations that the ZWC is just as sanitary as a water fed urinal.

Conclusion

Water conservation will take a concerted effort between both the consumer and the plumbing engineer. The plumbing engineer needs to constantly be pushing for change of the building codes in order to address water conservation strategies such as zero water consumption urinals, composting toilets and rainwater harvesting systems to name a few. Until we attack water conservation like the HVAC engineers are attacking energy efficiency, changes will not come about. Without clean drinking water humans cannot sustain life. It is time that we, as a professional community, bring attention to water efficiency and bring this issue to the forefront where it belongs. Every drop counts.