[Scpg] PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY AUG 4, 9:00-9:30 AM 2009/Revolutionary Graywater Code Passes California Building Standards Commission/Santa Barbara CA

Mon Aug 3 06:39:04 PDT 2009

Wesley Roe
PR Contact for Oasis Design/Greywater
Contact  805-683-8997 email  lakinroe at silcom.com

PR/ PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY AUG 4, 9:00-9:30 AM 2009

Revolutionary Graywater Code Passes California Building Standards 
Commission with Art Ludwig of Oasis Design

Santa Barbara Public Library Faulkner Gallery 40 E Anapamu St
Santa Barbara CA 93101

Graywater Standards --Media resources
http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/press/

In Historic Move, California Building Standards Commission Green 
Visionaries Approve New Graywater Standard


Dawn of a new era

	Half of all carbon emissions are from buildings. Buildings 
built to current codes are sucking the groundwater out from under 
California. Graywater permits are part of an outdated system that 
focuses on microscopic risk as our species is engulfed by huge, 
emerging risks.

"On August 4th, 2009, California can legally install simple laundry 
and single fixture systems without a permit. For the first time, 
licensed professionals can legally help
with the 1.7 million existing graywater systems in the state. "
--Art Ludwig, graywater researcher and educator    

	Art Ludwig will be giving a press conference Tuesday August 
4th, 2009 from 9:00 to 9:30 am, at the Santa Barbara Library Main 
Branch Downtown , at the start of his free, City of Santa 
Barbara-Sponsored workshop on Laundry to Landscape systems currently 
with over 100 registrants

	Art Ludwig, who participated in the historic graywater code 
adoption meeting last week in Sacramento at the behest of the City of 
Santa Barbara Water Resources Division, will tell the story of this 
code's process (which involved the biggest stakeholder meetings for 
any code promulgated by CA Department of Housing and Community 
Development (HCD)). He will also discuss the significance of the 
Building Standards Commission's historic shift from considering only 
occupant  safety to also taking into account off-site and future 
impacts of a building's systems. (California Building Standards 
Commission (www.bsc.ca.gov) is currently revising California's Green 
Building standards, another sea change).

	A collision of world views was in full evidence at the July 
31st hearing of the California Building Standards Commission that 
considered the CA Department of Housing and Community Development 
(HCD)'s proposed new graywater standards. Emergency standards 
pertaining to new Graywater Standards for residential construction 
(EF 01-09)

	In a hearing lasting all day, highly qualified stakeholders 
spoke passionately for and against the adoption of the new standards 
as the hearing roller-coastered  dramatically to its historic 
conclusion.

	The commissioners are to be congratulated for their 
leadership.  It is always more work to set up a new system than to 
fit into an existing one.

	It would have been a lot easier to stand aside as legal 
buildings continue to waste resources and pollute the environment. 
However, in the face of deeply entrenched, powerful opposition, the 
commission is rising to the challenge of revising all of California's 
building codes to allow/ require better building systems and besides 
its emergency approval of the new graywater standards yesterday, the 
California Building Standards Commission is also revising 
California's Green Building Standards to include many new mandatory 
and voluntary measures to reduce negative impacts and increase 
positive impacts of California buildings.

RESOURCES

Media resources,  links to how to educational materials for  the public
http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/press/

BACKGROUND

	On June 4, 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive 
Order S-06-08 proclaiming that a statewide drought condition existed 
and directed the Department of Water Resources (DWR) 
www.water.ca.gov/ to take specific action to counter the drought.

	In 2008, Senate Bill 1258 (Ch. 172, Stats. Of 2008) was 
signed by the Governor enacting new statues in the Health and Safety 
Code(section 17922.12 and 18941.7) and amending existing statute in 
the Water Code ()Section 14877.1) These statutes, effective January 
1, 2009, including requirements that directed the Department of 
Housing and Community Development(HCD) to propose to the California 
Building Standards Commission (CBSC) building standards for the 
construction, installation, and alteration of graywater systems for 
residential indoor and outdoor uses.


	On Feb 27 , 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a 
proclamation declaring a drought to be in existence and a state of 
emergency to exist in California. This proclamation was based upon 
the circumstances of severe drought conditions that by the reason of 
their magnitude is beyond the control of the services , personnel, 
equipment and facilities of any one local entity and requires the 
combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat.

	Existing Graywater standards contained in the California Code 
of Regulations (CCR) Title 24, California Plumbing Code, Part 5, 
Appendix G are based upon requirements for private sewage disposal. 
Theses standards have been found to be overly prescriptive and 
antiquated, and not readily usable by persons seeking to install 
graywater systems for the purpose of water conservation.

	The graywater regulation revolution was started in 1989 in 
Santa Barbara, California. It spread from there to four other 
communities, then the whole state, via the Uniform Plumbing Code, in 
1992.

	The approach the commission has now adopted is being used 
successfully in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and soon 
Nevada, Montana, and Oregon. With this change, California is 
regaining its leadership role for graywater reuse.

(end)
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