To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Title
Ordinance Amending Title 4 of the Castle Rock Municipal Code Adding a New Chapter 4.05 Entitled Graywater Systems (Second Reading)
Body
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Executive Summary
The Ordinance was approved on First Reading on December 18, 2018 by a vote of 7-0.
This memorandum has been prepared to present an Ordinance (see Attachment A) which if approved by Council would allow graywater systems in Castle Rock Water’s service area including areas that are or may be served through extraterritorial service agreements in the future. Graywater systems have the potential to reduce indoor water consumption by 20%. Significant reductions in outdoor consumption may also be possible depending on the type of system installed. As such, an ordinance allowing graywater systems has the potential to make significant contributions to Castle Rock’s long term water efficiency and conservation goals.
In 2013, the State legislature passed house bill 13-1044 allowing graywater systems in local jurisdictions in Colorado that have created control programs for their jurisdictions in accordance with rules that were to be developed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). In 2015, the Water Quality Control Commission of CDPHE adopted Control Regulation 86 which sets the minimum program requirements for graywater control programs instituted by local jurisdictions. “Graywater" means that portion of wastewater that, before being treated or combined with other wastewater, is collected from fixtures within residential, commercial, or industrial buildings or institutional facilities for the purpose of being put to beneficial uses. Sources of graywater are limited to discharges from bathroom and laundry room sinks, bathtubs, showers, and laundry machines. Graywater does not include the wastewater from toilets, urinals, kitchen sinks, dishwashers, or non-laundry utility sinks.
The legislation and the control regulation allow two types of uses for graywater, toilet flushing and subsurface irrigation. Local jurisdictions must send their control programs to the Water Quality Control Division for review within 60 days of passing a local ordinance for a control program to allow graywater systems. The ordinance before Council was prepared with the help of the former head of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The ordinance has already been reviewed with the Water Quality Control Division to ensure that it meets the minimum requirements of Control Regulation 86.
The main points of the proposed control program in the ordinance are as follows:
1. Castle Rock Water must review and approve any proposed graywater systems.
2. The systems must also meet the requirements of the International Building Code (IBC) used by the Town.
3. Once approved, installed and inspected by the Town’s building inspector, the legal responsibility for the graywater system transfers to the property owner.
4. Systems will only be approved for new development, as retrofits are difficult to properly review and approve.
5. The program applies to Town limits and extraterritorial service areas served by Castle Rock Water.
6. Castle Rock Water will maintain a record of locations with graywater systems.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Castle Rock Water presented the idea to the Developers Roundtable at the November 14, 2018 meeting. Several local homebuilders have been engaged in the concept as well. The concept will also be presented at the next Contractor Luncheon. The ordinance has been reviewed with Development Services and the Chief Building Inspector. Finally, a copy of the proposed ordinance will be shared with Douglas County and Tri-County Health.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
On October 24, 2018, staff introduced the concept of graywater to the Castle Rock Water Commission.
On November 28, 2018 staff presented a draft ordinance to the Castle Rock Water Commission. The Commission unanimously recommended Council approve the ordinance as presented.
Discussion
The primary focus for Castle Rock Water right now is graywater for toilet flushing although the ordinance is designed to provide maximum future flexibility. To date, the only other jurisdictions that have approved an ordinance in Colorado include the City and County of Denver and Pitkin County.
Nationally, approximately 21 states have graywater regulations, most of them in the water scarce west.
According to the Green Building Alliance <https://www.go-gba.org/resources/green-building-methods/greywater-system/>, manufactured graywater systems can cost between $2,500 and $9,000. The payback is unlikely to be cost effective for retrofits, but it could be effective for new builds in Castle Rock especially if homebuilders can offset some of the cost of installation through reduced system development fees (SDFs.) Castle Rock Water has two ways a builder can achieve reduced SDFs; the 0.67 tap fee and a Water Efficiency Plan. Graywater systems could be an option for the builder to achieve either of these. Ultimately, if systems save 20% on indoor water use and systems are used on all new residential, future residential could save 400 acre-feet of needed supply or $12 to $18 million in long term renewable water development. There is also the added benefit of savings in needed wastewater capacity at the wastewater plant on the order of 0.4 million gallons per day. At a cost of about $12 million per million gallons of new capacity this is significant. There is a risk, however. Since systems will be designed to fail-safe back to the current plumbing and bypass the systems, the water and wastewater capacity savings are at risk for homeowners that don’t properly maintain their systems.
Budget Impact
The only impacts to budget would be small changes in system development fee revenue and water sales revenue consistent with the potential for reduced tap sizes and water consumption. These impacts to budget should be offset by savings in capital investment and operations and maintenance cost savings.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of the ordinance on first reading. If approved on first and second reading, staff proposes to work with local home builders and graywater system providers on a pilot program installing some minimum number of systems and then monitoring performance for a year prior to moving to full scale implementation.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the ordinance as introduced by title.”
Attachments
Attachment A: Ordinance