Real Drought Relief: State Gives Green Light To Graywater

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By Traci Sheehan
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

Responding to the increasing pressures on our state's water supplies, last month the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) approved new standards that facilitate the use of graywater in homes and voted to make the standards effective on August 4th, 2009 rather than waiting until 2011.

The new standards will make it much easier to reuse water from bathtubs, showers, sinks, and washing machines for outdoor irrigation while protecting local water quality and public health.

Senator Alan Lowenthal's successful 2008 legislation launched this revision of the graywater standards.

Landscape designer Bernadette Balics applauds the move. "My clients have always been interested in using graywater systems for irrigation, but were wary about negotiating the permitting uncertainties. The new standards make it easier for homeowners to reuse their graywater simply, safely, and legally."

Graywater provides a cost-effective and reliable source of water that can be implemented quickly and helps guard against water shortages in future drought years.

While the new standards are a great leap forward, they don't yet tap the full potential for graywater. Clean Water Action's Jennifer Clary notes that "the big missing piece is indoor reuse, specifically hooking systems up for toilet flushing or laundry." While using graywater for irrigation serves only seasonal demands in many parts of the state, expanding the standards to include indoor uses of graywater would provide year-round water savings across California.

In February, the Governor also responded to the water shortage by issuing an emergency proclamation. However, as we've reported, the proclamation has been used primarily to avoid environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and advance policies that do not provide environmental benefits or long-term drought protection.

Climate For Corrections: Public Says Latest CEQA Guidelines Proposal Could Leave Public Uninformed, Unprotected

This week, the California Natural Resources Agency held two hearings to gather input on their proposed amendments to the State Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to address greenhouse gas emissions.

Throughout the hearings, advocates urged the agency to strengthen the proposal to make sure that the environmental review process provides the public with an accurate measurement of a project's greenhouse gas emissions, results in effective mitigation activities, promotes sustainable transportation solutions, and addresses both the causes and effects of global warming.

It's particularly surprising that the proposal is silent on how public agencies should address global warming effects like sea level rise and heightened wildfire risk in the CEQA process, since the state's just-released draft California Climate Adaptation Strategy relies heavily on CEQA as a tool to do just that.

The Resources Agency proposal is, in many ways, an improvement on previous drafts from the Governor's Office of Planning and Research. We hope they continue that trajectory in their next draft. Comments on the proposal are due next Thursday. For more information, contact PCL's Matt Vander Sluis.

Traci Sheehan is the Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation League, a statewide, nonprofit lobbying organization. For more than thirty years, PCL has fought to develop a body of environmental laws in California that is the best in the United States. PCL staff review virtually every environmental bill that comes before the California Legislature each year. It has testified in support or opposition of thousands of bills to strengthen California's environmental laws and fight off rollbacks of environmental protections.