17 Jan Gray Water Working Group SUCCESS

After almost a year working together with City Staff, Water Utility Staff, and the Mechanical, Plumbing and Solar Board a small group of citizens from our community made great strides toward beneficial gray water policy last night at a meeting with the City of Austin Environmental Board.

A group formed by City Council Ordinance called the "Residential Gray Water Working Group" presented on a Proposal for a Residential Gray Water Pilot Program that would test the feasibility and measure the benefits of capturing gray water from household showers, hand sinks and clothes washing machines.

Not only did the Board demonstrate resounding support for the pilot program, they emphasized agreement that this is a concept who's time has come and we are remiss in not trying to do the most we can to capture the largest amount of gray water possible as a benefit to our eco-system. In addition to formally recommending to Council that they create a resolution to design and implement a pilot program, they also included an amendment recommending that Council adopt upcoming code changes to include bathroom sinks and showers as an allowable gray water source on top of the already adopted laundry source.

Now, the Residential Gray Water Working Group will set out to work again with staff to design the education pieces and details of the programs that will open the doors for Austin residents to affordably retrofit their existing homes to use gray water on their landscapes!