ADC Referral - Water Harvesting & Gray Water

In June of 1996 ADC asked New Mexico's State Engineer, Tom Turney, to participate in a
Water Symposium to clarify when the state would pass gray water law and a more comprehensive water harvesting policy.
Note: In 1996 twenty-two Westerns states had already passed gray water codes.

The New Mexican
Sunday, June 16, 1996

Expo to Focus on Water Conservation
by Diana Sandoval

A mild winter coupled with a dry spring has much of New Mexico and the entire Soutwest experiencing sever drought conditions. Several area fires have scorched many acres of forest land.

The city of Santa Fe has called upon its residents to exercise mandatory water reduction. And most parts of the state have banned the sale and use of fireworks because of extreme fire hazards.

But many citizens may still be wondering just how real the emergency is. What does “water reduction or reuse” really mean? What can the individual household owner do to save water? What will happen if this dry spell continues with virtually no rain forecast in the near future?

Santa Feans have the opportunity to get answers to these and other water question by attending the 1996 Whole Life Expo, next weekend, June 28, 29 and 30, at the Santa Fe Indian School. Among the many events planned for the Expo will be a panel discussion on water conservation and waster-water reuse issues. Participants will have the chance to hear area experts including New Mexico State Engineer Tom Turney.

As state engineer, Turney deals mostly with issues regarding water rights, water quality and quantity. Turney said he has had many calls from people concerned about the current water situation. Many people, said Turney, want to know just what New Mexico’s future looks like if the rain continues to stay away.

“The answer to that question is very complex,” Turney said. “It just depends on where you are. Some residents in the state are in fairly good shape.”

Turney has been traveling the state to assess the situation and said that there are some places that have a fair amount of surface water with a substantial supply of water in their reservoirs. For example, Turney said that the Rio Grande Reservoir is about 200 percent above average, while the area surrounding Elephant Butte Lake and Reservoir is extremely dry with “basically no water coming in.”

Turney said that while the current drought conditions are surely being felt throughout the state, he fears that the continued dry spell will have an even greater impact next summer.

“People need to begin to understand what this means,” he said. “For the past five to 10 years, we’ve been very wet with some places as much as 200 percent above normal.

“Now we are going to the other extreme.”

Also participating in the panel discussion on water will be Pat Codd who has worked for more than 30 years in the irrigation and water management business throughout the United States. Codd has also become an expert on gray water systems.

A gray water system is a means of capturing some forms of household water, such as bath water, partially cleansing it, then reusing the water for outdoor irrigation.

Codd said that “right now, gray water systems in New Mexico are illegal.” He said that approximately 22 Western states have adopted the 1995 Uniform Plumbing Code which includes strict codes for acceptable gray water systems. But in New Mexico, Codd said, there has been “no official distinction between gray and black water,” and because the 1995 code contains language pertaining to those systems, New Mexico has not accepted it.

Codd said that in his research on gray water systems, he has found that about 60 percent of the household water for a family of four can be reused. That means that approximately 4,500 gallons can be regenerated as gray water.

The water panel discussion was organized by and will be moderated by Robin Dorrell, founder of ADC Referral: Architects, Designers & Contractors Referral Service. Dorrell has been instrumental in helping many residential and commercial clients create and build successful projects, including the city’s soon-to-open Business Incubator.

Dorrell said she hopes to clarify the confusion on gray water use issues. “I hope to get clear direction on what people are allowed to do,” Dorrell said. “I wonder why we (New Mexico) aren’t way ahead of the rest of the country, where these issues are concerned, because we are a desert state.”

Dorrell will also be moderating a panel discussion on Alternative Building Technologies. Topics will range from environmentally sensitive building techniques and energy efficiency, to solar applications and permaculture projects.

Santa Fe Reporter
May 29 – June 4, 1996

Gray Water
-A.C.
Whole Life Expo will be returning to Santa Fe at the end of June. One of the most topical and potentially the most popular panel discussions will be about an urgent local issue: Water Conservation and Waste Water Re-use.
Robin Dorrell, founder of Santa Fe’s ADC: Architects, Designers & Contractors Referral Service, is moderating the panel discussion. “I want to find out among the top guns in the state of New Mexico about whether or not we’re allowed to reuse our water,”she says.
The state of New Mexico will approve household systems that use waste water from dishwashers, sinks, washing machines and showers (not toilets) on a case by case basis, but Pat Codd, an irrigation expert, says, “They make you go through so much hell.”
New Mexico is the only one of 22 Western states that has not adopted the 1995 Uniform Plumbing Code, because, Codd says, it does not accept the appendices related to standards for gray water plumbing. According to Codd, gray water systems could allow households to re-use 60 percent of their waste water and allow their septic systems to operate more efficiently. “We could all have lush gardens,” he says.