Policy and Legislation
As you consider implementing water collection and reuse strategies, one of your first questions will likely be: Are these reuse systems legal? What must I do to make my project adhere to the laws, codes and ordinances?
The short answer is: None of these practices is categorically prohibited in California. However, in some cases, such as graywater use, their implementation may be subject to plenty of regulation and lots of gray areas! In other cases, such as residential rainwater harvesting, the law is almost completely silent.
Given the rapidly changing landscape of state, county and city legislation introduced and adopted, we’ll use this page to list water legislation that is already voted in and impacting your specific employment of water efficiency and reuse strategies. We will also include water legislation in the making, as appropriate.
Additional Information on Policy and Legislation
- CA Water Code
- Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
- CA DWR State Water Plan
- Federal Clean Water Act
- CA Title 22 Regulations
- CA Title 23 (Water)
- Title 24, Part 5, Chapter 16, Part 1 (Graywater)
- CA Title 24, Part 6 (Energy Efficiency Standards)
- US NPDES Regulations (EPA)
- Harvest H2O Policy and Regulations Updates
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
At the state and local level many different legal instruments are used to further the goal of water conservation.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
As of late 2009, California has no statewide regulations in place specifically related to rainwater harvesting.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
Stormwater that runs off of natural or manmade landscape surfaces around buildings is subject to a slew of state and local laws.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
California has long had provisions in the state building code that theoretically allowed citizens to install and use graywater systems.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
Statutes are laws written and enacted by the California Legislature.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
Nearly all water reuse strategies featured on Wholly H2o involve plumbing, landscaping, drainage and wastewater systems.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
The public and private sectors in California are beginning to actively seek water conservation and reuse practices.
Authored by Sonia Diermayer
There are sound reasons underlying what sometimes seems like a regulatory stranglehold on innovations in water use.
RESOURCES
CALIFORNIA WATER EVENTS
| Regional Water Board Meeting Wed Sep 08 @09:00AM Elihu M. Harris Building, First Floor Auditorium, 1515 Clay Street, Oakland, CA 94612 |
| Fundamentals of Grey Water Systems for Sustainable and Integrated Water Management - New Webinar Mon Sep 13 @11:30AM Webinar |
| Wholly H2o September Forum: Establishiing Baseline Water Use, Audits, Benchmarking Mon Sep 13 @07:00PM Jellyfish Gallery, 1286 Folsom (at Ninth St.) San Francisco, CA 94103 (corner of 9th and Folsom, Civic Center Bart) |
| Early Detection Monitoring for Quagga & Zebra Mussels Tue Sep 14 @08:00AM EBMUD San Pablo Bay Reservoir ,7301 San Pablo Dam Road, San Pablo, CA |
| Theoretical and practical approaches for event detection and alarm reduction in water treatment Wed Sep 15 @11:30AM Webinar |
