Ten Steps to Prevent the Next Urban Water Crisis - Part 2
Originally constructed in 1979 and renovated in 2000, the 18-story Park Tower office building at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA, remodeled its restrooms over several years and installed efficient flush fixtures to replace all the original toilets. Along with other measures, indoor water use was reduced 31 percent from the LEED-EBOM baseline levels.
Courtesy of The Offices of South Coast Plaza.
6. Water agencies should focus on conservation measures first; these usually reduce water use by 15 percent or more and are far more cost-effective and immediate than developing new sources of supply. Water agencies should provide cash rebates for efficient technologies and continuing public education to shift behavior.
7. To accommodate new water technologies, building codes need to be changed, without losing their essential focus on protecting public health and safety. Adopting the new IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement (2010) provides an easy way to do this.
8. The entire plumbing industry, more than 40,000 plumbers in the US, needs to be trained in green plumbing practices. By working with water agencies and community colleges, many new jobs can be created by introducing new efficiency technologies.
9. Rapid adoption of new WaterSense(R) home labels and other green building labels such as LEED(R) and ENERGY STAR(R) will directly and indirectly reduce water use. This means every new home and building should secure a rating from a nationally accepted third-party certification program.
10. Meter and measure every aspect of water use. “What gets measured, gets managed.” As technology becomes available, plan to use the Internet to get real-time data about your water use at home, work and school. Knowing your daily, even hourly water use, in a simple readable format, can affect behavior, so that you can water use practices quickly without waiting for monthly (or in some cases, even quarterly) water bills to provide the data.
