WATER DEMAND COMMITTEE
5.	DISCUSS RETROFIT REQUIREMENT FOR MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL SITES
Meeting Date:		July 31, 2017	Budgeted:	N/A
From:		David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
		General Manager	Line Item No.: N/A
Prepared By:		Stephanie Locke	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: The Water Demand Committee considered this item on July 31, 2017, and recommended _______________.
CEQA Compliance: This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378.

SUMMARY: Senate Bill 407 (Padilla) approved by the Governor on October 11, 2009, requires owners of Multi-Family Residential and commercial real property built prior to January 1, 1994, to replace older water fixtures with new water efficient fixtures by January 1, 2019. The plumbing fixtures required to be replaced include toilets, urinals, showerheads, and faucets. Between 2014 and 2019, noncompliant plumbing fixtures must be replaced in certain circumstances, such as:

1. For building additions that increase floor area by more than ten percent;

2. Improvements or improvements that are greater than $150,000

3. Remodels/improvements that occur in a bathroom that has noncompliant fixtures;

MPWMD adopted regulations in 2009 to require earlier and more stringent retrofit requirements for Non-Residential Users (Rule 143). Staff is proposing consideration of a similar ordinance for Multi-Family Residential that would require retrofits and certification of compliance by January 1, 2019.

Common Laundry Rooms

In addition to the retrofits required by SB 407, staff would like the Water Demand Committee to also consider requiring replacement of non-efficient clothes washers in common laundry rooms by a date certain. Common laundry rooms were left out of the District’s 2014 requirement that all Non-Residential clothes washers be replaced with High Efficiency Clothes Washers.

Coin-operated clothes washers (sometimes free washers) are often found in common areas in multi-family buildings and apartment complexes. These types of multi-user laundry facilities can also be found at college dormitories, motels, mobile home parks, etc. Common area clothes washing facilities provide excellent opportunities for water conservation because the frequency of use for each clothes washer is much greater than in-home machines. While an in-home machine averages only 4 to 6 loads per week, common area machines often wash 20 to 50 loads per week per clothes washer.

Most coin-op washers have a Water Factor rating of 12 to 14 (top loaders); using 35 to 45 gallons per load. Newer water efficient models have a Water Factor rating of 4 to 8; using as little as 12 gallons per load. Water savings projections require frequency of use estimates, and this is difficult data to obtain unless the building owner regularly records accurate “coin counts”. It is seldom the property owner actually owns the clothes washers located in the common areas. These machines are most often owned by vendors known as ‘route operators’; where the property owner receives a portion of the machines’ gross revenues. Any effort to replace the machines with more efficient models requires the cooperation of both the property owner and the route operator that owns the machines.

RECOMMENDATION: The Committee should discuss the concept of a Multi-Family Residential retrofit ordinance and provide direction to staff.

EXHIBIT

None

U:\staff\Board_Committees\WaterDemand\2017\20170731\05\Item-5.docx