Mon, Nov 09, 2009
 Laundry water runs into a basin and then into a garden hose at a home. One proposal calls for builders to install piping to exterior for such water.
aaron j. latham / Arizona Daily Star 2001
EVER-READY GLASS SALES REPS Finance and Accounting FLOWERS, RIEGER & ASSOCIATES TAX STAFF Tucson RegionPanel: New homes should have drain pipes to outsideArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.07.2008
Home builders should be required to outfit all new homes with plumbing systems capable of delivering "gray" water from bathroom and laundry sinks, showers and washing machines to outdoor landscaping, a city advisory committee says.
The committee also wants the Tucson City Council to require developers of shopping centers and other commercial projects to harvest rainwater for at least 75 percent of what goes on trees, grass and shrubs.
Backers say these proposed ordinances, which would take effect in June 2010, are likely the first of their kind in the United States. They see them as ways to increase water conservation as population grows and pressure increases on the region's limited water supplies.
Critics say they are too costly, could discourage development and put too much emphasis on new homes versus a much larger number of existing homes.
The committee hopes to bring finished proposals to the City Council in August. It has met regularly since the first of the year.
Specifically:
● In new homes, builders would have to install pipes and other plumbing hardware to draw gray water from showers, bathroom sinks and laundry sinks — but not toilets or kitchen sinks. Homeowners, if they desired, then would have to install additional piping and underground tanks to store the water and ship it outdoors. A separate set of piping would be required from the home builders to take water directly from washing machines to yards.
● In new commercial projects, developers could choose how to capture rainwater, as long as they met the 75 percent goal. Methods range from concrete or metal cisterns to store the water to designing parking lots or berms to direct rainfall downhill into landscaping.
The gray water plumbing would cost $500 to install — home builders can knock off $200 of that in a state income-tax credit — and the cost will likely be passed on to home buyers.
That's not so bad even for a house affordable to low-income families, said Michael McDonald, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Tucson, who sits on the city advisory committee. The mission of his non-profit group is to build that kind of home.
"It's not going to keep anyone out of the house. We're moving in the direction of doing more green architecture, since water is such a precious resource in the desert," McDonald said.
But the proposals have drawn serious concern or outright opposition from the home-building and commercial development industries because of the cost.
One critic from the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association calls the gray-water ordinance a misplaced emphasis because many existing homes have less-water-efficient plumbing and more thirsty, non-native landscaping.
The city has approved building permits for anywhere from 1,100 to 2,500 new homes annually since 2003 and will approve 500 or 600 this year.
That compares with about 177,000 homes in the city built before 1990, said that critic, Roger Yohem, spokesman for SAHBA.
"Quite frankly, we don't think it is cost-effective," Yohem said. "They're taking a very, very small pool. If their true goal is water conservation, they need to look at the bigger picture. We are encouraging substance over style."
SAHBA had, like all other groups on the city committee, originally supported the concept of gray-water plumbing in new homes, and at first supported the ordinance in committee meetings. The association now says it had felt pressured by other committee members to reach consensus.
"Where is their study showing this is something consumers demand? How much are consumers willing to pay for these products?" Yohem said.
Cost is the main reason the ordinances target new construction, because it's prohibitively expensive to dig out walls and redo older homes' plumbing, said Katie Bolger, a staffer for City Council member Rodney Glassman, who pushed to create this subcommittee.
Glassman said the city can look at existing homes later, but it's important to set the bar for new development now.
He said he's thrilled that a committee representing 14 diverse interest groups could work together to produce these proposals.
"We've tapped out our aquifers, and if we're going to grow sustainably and responsibly, we need to take action now, not wait for something unfortunate to happen," said committee member Kevin Barber, representing the American Institute of Architects.
For commercial projects, the typical cost is uncertain because a wide range of building and lot sizes exists. David Pittman, director of the Arizona Builders Alliance, representing commercial developers, favors a 50 percent rainfall use requirement, although he didn't vote against 75 percent.
Harvesting is a good idea but should go more slowly to ensure that it works, Pittman said. While this requirement will be a boon to landscapers, it could discourage an unknown amount of commercial development here, he said.
"Let's say you have a Taco Bell being built on a pad at a mall. Their landscape requirements would be very small. Yet we would be introducing a lot of regulation on them," Pittman said.
Committee member and commercial developer George Larsen said he can live with the proposal, although he would have preferred the city set a total outdoor-use limit and offer developers flexibility on meeting it.
"But I do believe one component should be rainwater harvesting on the roof," he said.
● Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.
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