Austin’s water reuse program is moving forward, but slowly

Austin adopted what were called “historic” water reuse regulations a year ago, so the program is still in its infancy, especially compared with Los Angeles and San Francisco, which adopted regulations requiring builders to put in the necessary plumbing to reuse water at least a decade ago.

“San Francisco started its program in 2012 and it became mandatory in 2015, so they’re 10 years ahead of us,” according to Katherine Jashinski, Austin Water’s supervising engineer for water reuse.

As a result, when Jashinski talks about the program, she points to developments that have said they will be reusing air conditioner condensate and rainwater, for example. Those are still in the process of getting building permits, so they won’t be on the ground for several years. As of last August, there were 18 projects participating in the program.

Jashinski was one of the members of a SXSW panel this week on the topic of how cities are leading in the water reuse revolution. Even though Austin’s GoPurple program is still in its infancy, it has taken more steps than many other cities. Jashinski told the Austin Monitor it would take about three years for developments to go through the permitting process and start building. She noted that starting in May, her department would be making quarterly reports to City Council and to boards and commissions about reclaimed water use.

Last year, when Council approved code changes requiring new large commercial, multifamily and mixed-use developments to use reused water, the ordinance provided an exemption for affordable housing projects. Specifically, in order to be exempt, a project must provide the city with 50 percent on-site affordable housing units that are income restricted for people making 60 percent of the median family income for rental units or 80 percent MFI for ownership units.

A memo from Shay Ralls Roalson, director of Austin Water, proposes covering the costs of design and installation for dual plumbing in buildings that provide affordable housing but are currently exempt from the water reuse requirements.

According to the memo, the GoPurple Program currently includes incentives of up to $500,000 per project for implementing on-site water reuse or a reclaimed water connection. The current cap on the incentive program is $500,000 per project. However, Roalson estimated that an additional $1 million would be needed per project “for all types of affordable housing projects.”

Providing additional incentives for as many as six affordable housing projects per year might require an estimated $1.2 million to $9 million in subsidies, she wrote. However, the city budget currently has just $4 million per fiscal year for the GoPurple Program incentives.

“Austin Water will assess the need to increase this annual reservation to support additional affordable housing projects in future fiscal year budgets depending on affordable housing participation, reclaimed water main capital projects and available GoPurple Program funds,” she concluded.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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