Christoph Lohr: Welcome back to The Authority Podcast: Plumbing & Mechanical. I’m your host, Christoph Lohr. And in this episode, Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman comes back — we have her back on the show — and we’re going to delve into strategies and technologies that are revolutionizing water conservation in the built environment, from advanced irrigation systems to smart water management technologies; explore the government policies and regulations in driving these initiatives; and discuss the critical role of community engagement and education.
Finally, we look ahead to future directions, emerging research areas that promise to shape the sustainability landscape. Sarah, welcome back to The Authority Podcast.
Sara Gutterman: Thank you so much, Christoph. It’s a pleasure to be back.
Christoph Lohr: It’s a pleasure to have you back. And as we hinted to on the first time we had you on, we had a whole episode of, we started talking about ideas and we’re like, let’s get you back on here.
So let’s delve right into it. Can you highlight some of the key strategies and technologies you’re reporting on that can effectively contribute to water conservation in the built environment?
Sara Gutterman: Absolutely. I’ll go through a list of innovations that we’re tracking, but let me just start with the context that as we’ve discussed before, water really should be top of mind for anyone in the building industry because it has the potential to become the chief limiting factor to grow. If there’s no water, there will be no permits. But fortunately, there are a myriad of innovative water technologies that can help solve for our water challenges, our growing water challenges.
So some of the trending water innovations that we’re tracking. First start with some of the basics, low-flow faucets and fixtures and toilets, because they really can have a big impact on the water use and water conservation within a home or building. Same thing with water-efficient appliances. Moving on though, we’re looking at leak detection and water monitoring systems and the evolution of those systems so that we can start engaging in demand-side water management, kind of like we’re doing on the energy side of things with demand-side energy management.
We’re looking at gray water systems for interior non-potable usage as well as landscaping. Smart irrigation systems, where those systems can track and respond to soil conditions and weather patterns so they’ll turn themselves off if there's rain or if the soil is moist and plants and, and grasses, et cetera, just don’t need planting.
Rain and roof water capture systems with holding tanks and filtration systems so that water can be reused either inside the home or, in some cases, potable or non-potable applications. We’re watching hot water recirculatory switches that don’t run continuously because of the energy usage. And all of the big water heater manufacturers are entering into this space with variable drive systems, and a lot of that technology is being deployed in Europe and being brought here to the U.S. And then we’re also really looking at innovative technologies like atmospheric generators that pull water out of the air for fresh water supply. These have been around in moister climates for a while, but there are versions that were developed by the Department of Defense that have been used in, say, the Middle East, that are now being utilized in more arid climates. And then just a few last things — new kind of water meters with auto and remote shutoffs and then groundwater recharge products like permeable pavers. Again, nothing super advanced or Star Trekkian, but certainly effective.
Christoph Lohr: That’s an amazing list, Sara. For our listeners, that’s such a broad base, especially for like our technical listeners out there, things they can start looking into, for policymakers as well. And speaking of policymakers, what role do you think government policies and regulations should play in encouraging water conservation practices?
Are there any policy changes that you believe would be particularly effective?
Sara Gutterman: Yeah, I think that policy and regulations have to play a pivotal role in solving for our growing water challenges, both in terms of availability and quality. And that’s partly because our national demand for water is growing rapidly, especially in water-parched areas like the western half of the country, specifically the Southwest. By 2030, I think, as you probably well know, experts predict that there’s going to be 100 percent growth in states like Nevada and Arizona; 60 percent growth in Texas; and upwards of 30 percent growth in California and Colorado.
And many of these parched states have already explored or implemented enhanced water policy regulations and drought contingency plans. I really believe that this starts with water pricing, appropriate water pricing. I don’t think that we have, we haven’t included the externalities of water in water pricing historically, so if we start pricing water as the precious and very valuable resource that it is, then I think that we’re going to start seeing a much different approach to water usage, water filtration, so both addressing, again, availability and quality. I think also that we need to start addressing our dilapidated infrastructure, which is contributing, of course, to water pollution and water quality.
I think the U. S. ranks 64th in the World Health Organization’s drinking water quality assessment, so not good. That’s only going to be driven by regulation and policy on a federal, state and a municipality scale, and I think that we’re also going to see substantial changes in codes and regulations where we start seeing net-zero water plans being required when developers and community scale builders go in to get permits, kind of like we’re seeing some net-zero energy plan requirements and on-site power generation requirements. We’re starting to see that more and more now with respect to net-zero water requirements.
Christoph Lohr: Excellent. And honestly, I think what you described, especially on the pricing, that’s one area that I’m definitely interested in as well.
When it comes to pricing, a lot of people can — obviously because it impacts them from a financial standpoint — they'll obviously, there probably is the potential for a lot of passion to come up in that sense, so obviously what you don’t want is to make a change and then have the community really turn against you.
So how important is community engagement in education promoting water conservation then? I’m assuming you’d say probably very. What steps can individuals and communities and governments take to raise awareness, encouraging action from the community standpoint?
Sara Gutterman: Yes, it’s a great question. Water is so complex because I live, for example, at 9,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies and my husband and I own properties where we actually have the first water rights on an entire water system where the water that I drink and then gets treated and put back into the water system gets used and put back into that system 12 times before it gets to California, people in L.A. So people in L.A. are drinking my water from the top of the watershed that’s been reused 12 times. So water and water rights are inherently complex. We won’t get into those issues; that’s a whole other podcast that we might want to do another time. But water is an inherently local resource and ideally should stay on site where the rain falls and where it’s used, but we know that unfortunately that’s not really what happens. With respect to the builder community, let me talk about kind of the building professional community and then we can talk about consumer awareness. But I think that builders and developers really need to start using a blended solution of water conservation, monitoring, recycling and reuse, and discharge strategies that are more advanced than the strategies that we have used because I think that water is has already become — and will increasingly become — more and more important for building projects, because each project has a unique set of water challenges. And I think that builders and developers should set site water targets informed by local context to drive effective action and decision making. There’s a certain level of awareness that we need to get out to builders and developers and other building professionals and stakeholders so that they can understand what their local water challenges and regulations and pricing are so that they can reduce their projects’ water risk, and in so doing, drive tangible business value and ROI for themselves. And that involves situational awareness, it involves accurate water assessments, it involves really understanding kind of real-time water data and understanding risk mitigation. Now beyond that, I think the other part of your question is around community engagement, and so I think that getting the community involved in understanding what the reality of the water risk is for their area is of paramount importance. And depending on the area, Christoph, as you well know, some areas right now have too much water and some have too little. Too much by way of super storms and increased precipitation causing flooding, and how do you deal with stormwater? Whereas, of course, other jurisdictions are dealing with intensified drought and, again, water quality and availability issues. I think that clearly that level of engagement is important, identifying the problem, understanding the gravity of it.
But I also think that we can’t be gloom and doom, right? We have to understand how people can engage in a positive way and focus on the solutions ranging from consumer behavior and homeowner behavior, what homeowners can do in their own homes to conserve and manage water use, and then what that looks like on a community scale.
Christoph Lohr: I like how you went from the very big picture all the way down to the individual level, and that makes me think of my next question here, which is specific success stories. Can you discuss any success stories or case studies where builders and developers successfully implemented innovative water conservation strategies?
Sara Gutterman: Yeah, I think the best water-related success story that I can think of is Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe, for now, decades, has implemented the most stringent water policies, they have the highest water prices, and they have the lowest daily per capita water usage in the country at around 87 gallons per day.
Las Vegas was at around 200 gallons per day and I think they’re reducing that. I know California wants to reduce water use per person to about 55 gallons a day by 2050. And I think that’s indoor use only, as opposed to the combination of indoor and outdoor use. There are other places like on the Front Range in Colorado where water tap fees have exploded like by 400 percent, and in so doing they’ve kind of put the kibosh on communities.
In fact, we were trying to do a community with Thrive Home Builders; I’m not sure if you know Gene Myers and Thrive. I was in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the water tap fees went from less than $10,000 per home up to over $40,000 per home, and it just made that particular community not feasible for the price point that we were trying to do that project at.
I know that, for example, Westminster, Colorado, is integrating water data into their municipal planning processes and their zoning plans for parcels for housing and commercial use. They’re using GIS software that overlays water resources and infrastructure with planning. I know that a lot of municipalities also, like Santa Barbara, Colorado, are using the WRS, Water Rating System, as a part of code compliance for projects at this point. So I think there are a lot of good success stories. I think we’re also bumping up against some not-so-success stories where we’re seeing water-related moratoriums in Phoenix and Scottsdale and, Bainbridge Island, Washington. I think I mentioned this last time; it’s an island for heaven’s sake, surrounded by water, so you’d think that there wouldn't be water challenges, but there are. Places in Florida, municipalities in Florida, where they have water-related moratoriums.
So, in unexpected places; the point there is just that everywhere is facing water challenges.
Christoph Lohr: Definitely, definitely. As so many places are facing water shortages, or water supply challenges, you guys have done a lot of research into conservation measures in new or remodeled homes.
What does your proprietary research tell you about consumer willingness to adopt water conservation measures in their particular new or remodeled home?
Sara Gutterman: Yeah. I have a couple of data points that I wanted to share today that I think really speaks to this. First, our cognition smart data, and just for context for our listeners, cognition, smart data is Green Builder media’s market intelligence and data services division, and we have multiple data sets that we bring in to analyze. And we have access to millions of early adopter and first-mover consumers that we survey regularly. So one, keep in mind it’s very large data sets, but two, our audience tends to be early adopters and first movers and people who are more inclined to live sustainably and to look for sustainable solutions, so with that in mind, the first data point is that over 50 percent of our audience, of our consumer audience, believes that water supply will actually be the thing that will be most impacted by climate change, more so than food supply, energy supply, personal safety, even the economy or health care jobs.
Water supply is the top, the No. 1 thing that they think will be impacted by climate change. Nearly 70 percent of our readers say that their area is facing — actually, no, sorry, I’m looking at this stat — 95 percent say that their area is facing water shortages and availability issues, water quality issues, or both.
So that breaks down to about 35 percent say water shortages, 35 percent say water quality, and about 20 percent say both. Only less than 10 percent say neither and less than 5 percent say that they’re not sure. Now when we ask questions like, ‘Are you willing to pay more for water innovations if they will lower your total cost of homeownership over time?’ Across the board, the vast majority of our audience says yes, and actually the younger the generation, the greater their interest in investing in water innovations that will lower their total cost of homeownership over time.
Just to give you a perspective, baby boomers, about 58 percent of baby boomers say that they’re willing to invest, whereas if you go through Xs and millennials, then it’s about 80 percent of Gen Zs. Again, about 58 percent to 80% of a range from baby boomers to Gen Zs.
And then the last two data points. One, when we ask what would our readers and our audience invest in to make their homes net-zero water, a vast majority say low-flow plumbing fixtures. Interestingly, about 50 percent now say leak detection and water management systems.
Christoph Lohr: Interesting.
Sara Gutterman: That’s trending. And then finally, when we ask about what types of sustainability investments in the building sector do they think will have the greatest growth opportunity in the next five years, water conservation technologies is the top thing that our progressive consumer audience believes has the greatest growth potential with respect to the built environment.
Christoph Lohr: Wow. That is, thank you so much for sharing those insights. That is even more chalk-filled good information for our listeners to start taking into consideration. As we are coming to the end here of our interview and time here together, can you provide any insights into future directions, development, or research areas within the field of water conservation in the built environment that our listeners should know about?
Sara Gutterman: Yeah. I really believe that in the next five to 10 years, we’re going to see a dramatic transformation in water infrastructure in general. And I think it’s going to go the way that energy went in terms of decentralization of our water infrastructure. There’s a company called Genesis Systems that I’m watching, and it does those kind of atmosphere generators, but at a utility and a community scale. It does offer home solutions; those are fairly expensive, although if you really look at it, a home solution is like twice the cost of a high-end mattress. So when you put it that way, it kind of changes the conversation. But I really believe that given the water challenges that many municipalities across our country and across our globe face, I believe that this decentralization of water infrastructure to improve water quality, availability, and really as much as anything, reliability, that’s going to transform.
So I’m looking at those larger-scale applications that do kind of an end run of existing infrastructure with antiquated, dilapidated pipes; we see these water mains that flood the streets of Atlanta and nobody has water, right? That’s not an efficient way anymore to serve water to our homes and communities and buildings.
So, I think there’s going to be more site solutions on site and decentralized solutions. I also think we’re going to see a lot of progress in that demand-side water management technology that utilizes artificial intelligence, it utilizes a lot of the technology that demand-side energy management systems use.
And even in cases where the utilities, the water utilities remain in place, there’s interaction with the utilities to optimize the monitoring, the usage and the distribution and really, kind of a purification and filtration of water to, again, create a level of reliability that we’ve historically had that we’re having challenges with now for obvious reasons, but again, we can kind of go back to once we have that enhanced technology in place.
Christoph Lohr: So many wonderful insights, and I know I’ve learned a lot from this conversation with you, Sara, and appreciate you sharing your time and your expertise with our listeners.
On behalf of The Authority Podcast: Plumbing & Mechanical, we’re going to have to probably have you on again at some point to keep talking about these future subjects. But just thank you and appreciate, again, all the knowledge that you shared with myself and our listeners.
Sara Gutterman: Thank you for having me, Christoph. I am happy to join you anytime. I love talking about water. As you know, it’s one of my very favorite topics to talk about; it’s so important. And so the more that we can just have ongoing conversations about it, the better. So thanks for the opportunity.
Christoph Lohr: Thanks for joining us on this week’s episode of The Authority Podcast: Plumbing & Mechanical. Love this episode of the podcast? Head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate and leave a review. Please follow us on Twitter @AuthorityPM; on Instagram @theauthoritypodcast; or email us at iapmo@iapmo.org. Join us next time for another episode of The Authority Podcast: Plumbing & Mechanical.
In the meantime, let’s work together to make our buildings more resilient and shape us for the better.
