Page 45 - Green Builder November Issue Codes Update

www.greenbuildermedia.com/saving-water-home

“Few people had indoor Santa Fe Gets

bathrooms 100 years ago. ‘More Efficient’ With

A hundred years from now, we will all Water Building Code

be harvesting water and sending it back BY CATI O’KEEFE

into the system, potable and non-

potable. It just makes good sense.”

unique to Santa Fe,” Shanahan reminds. “Anyone using 2012 UPC
and UMC Codes in their entirety can do this.”

The code is quite strict. It stipulates, for example, that the water
being brought back in the house, even for use in toilets, be “potable,”
ostensibly to protect pets or kids who happen to dip into that toilet
water.

Shanahan believes even this high bar can be reached. “We know
we can treat water that has come back in the house to this higher
standard than the required level, and we have the filtration and UV
technology to do this,” he says. “It is the future for homes: net zero
energy, net zero water.”

CREDIT: HARVESTH2O S ANTA FE HAS become the first municipality in the nation to
integrate a performance-based water efficiency requirement
A loyal flush. Using graywater to flush water is a big water saver. in its building code.
This purple pipe system from HarvestH2o directs water for a house Santa Fe’s bill, which adopts the Water Effiency Rating Score
in Santa Fe. The 2012 UPC and UMC codes that permit this stipulate (WERS) (www.wers.us/), is part of a larger update to the city’s residential
that the water be brought back into the house. green building code. “Santa Fe area home builders recognized years ago
that our community’s future growth was tied to the water supply,” says
www.greenbuildermedia.com Kim Shanahan, executive o fficer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders
Association. “If we can’t stretch our limited supply of water, we can’t
continue to grow and the building industry would suffer.”

For the past year, these changes have been reviewed and discussed
at multiple public hearings. The Sustainable Santa Fe Commission was
the first to approve residential green building code updates, followed
by the Santa Fe Planning Commission, the Public Works Committee,
the Water Conservation Committee, the Finance Committee and the
Public Utilities Committee.

“Santa Fe is taking an unprecedented step in adopting a performance-
based requirement and should be commended for it,” says Green
Builder Coalition Executive Director Mike Collignon. “By going with
[this] approach instead of a prescriptive requirement, Santa Fe is giving
its design/build community greater design and product flexibility than
any other city in the country.”

November/December 2016 GREEN BUILDER 43