Water law requires plumbing upgrades for older homes

Own a house built before 1994?

If so, you may be affected by a new California law that requires you to install low-flow plumbing fixtures in your kitchen and bathrooms in three years. Sooner if you remodel.

The law applies to owners of multi-family and commercial buildings as well, but the timeline and rules differ somewhat.

SB 407 was adopted in 2009, but didn't become effective until this year. It requires:

• Owners of single-family homes built before 1994 to upgrade all faucets, shower heads and toilets to low-flow fixtures when remodeling their home -- even in bathrooms and kitchens that aren't part of the upgrade.
• Single-family homeowners to upgrade all their plumbing fixtures by 2017 regardless of whether they're remodeling.
• Owners of all other buildings (including apartments and condos) toupgrade all the plumbing in their buildings if adding more than 10 percent to the floor area or spending more than $150,000 in remodeling costs.
• Building owners to upgrade all plumbing fixtures regardless of whether they're remodeling by 2019.

SB 407 defines low-flow toilets as using no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, low-flow faucets as using no more than 2.2 gallons per minute and low-flow shower heads as using no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. Urinals are limited to 1 gallon per flush.

The law is designed to help California conserve dwindling water resources. About 77 percent of California homes were built before 1990, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. One water district offical estimated that savings from low-flow plumbing could conserve enough water to serve 1.6 million to 3.4 million people.

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via:http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/low-602453-plumbing-flow.html