International Residential Code & International Plumbing Code
Brent Mecham, CID, CLWM, CIC, CLIA, CAIS, industry development director for the Irrigation Association, recently attended code hearings in Columbus, Ohio, for the International Residential Code and the International Plumbing Code. Both codes are part of the family of codes created by the International Code Council. Mecham had previously submitted written comments to proposed changes to those codes specifically to rename chapters from “Subsurface Irrigation Systems” to “Graywater Soil Absorption System.” The code hearings provide the opportunity to verbally defend the proposed changes to the code committees.
“I didn’t propose any technical changes other than to rename the chapters to more appropriately describe what was in the chapters of each code. While graywater is certainly a reliable source of water for irrigating plants, there are many other technical considerations beyond what was specified in the chapters that need to be considered if that source of water is used for irrigation,” Mecham stated. “The International Green Construction Code, for example, has numerous requirements for using graywater for irrigation.”
Mecham presented his proposal to two different committees, and both committees agreed with it. The next step includes reviewing and voting by the code officials to accept or reject the committee’s action on all of the proposals that were heard over four days. Final action will take place in October. The proposed changes will become part of the 2021 version of the codes.
National Green Building Standard
Mecham had also submitted modifications to the National Green Building Standard, which is an American National Standards Institute standard created by Home Innovations, a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders. The NGBS committee met for three days in Washington, D.C., in mid-May. This is a points-based standard to promote and reward builders for building residential properties in a greener or more sustainable way. A minimum number of points must be earned for such things as energy use, water use, site development and design, resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and operations and maintenance of the home. Since this is a rating system, discussion focused on how a verifier can determine if a building complies. An alternate rating system was also voted in that is based more on performance than being prescriptive. Irrigation is one of the systems to be verified.
The NGBS has provisions for landscaping and irrigation for both the development as well as the individual lot where the dwelling is located. While there is currently mandatory language about using a professional irrigation designer, there are also prescriptive requirements for which points are awarded for more efficient irrigation systems, including the use of WaterSense-labeled controllers, pressure regulation, drip irrigation and following the IA/American Society of Irrigation Consultants Landscape Irrigation Best Management Practices for designing and installing an irrigation system.
One of the changes proposed was to eliminate prescriptive limits on precipitation rates and use the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers/International Code Council 802-2014 Standard for Landscape Irrigation Sprinklers and Emitters as a requirement for sprinklers and microirrigation products used on the projects. The ASABE/ICC 802 Standard is currently part of the California Green Construction Code. The committee voted to accept many of the irrigation proposals submitted, but not all of them. The proposed changes accepted by the committee will go out for another round of public comment later this summer.
Contact Brent Mecham (703.536.7080) for information about these standards and codes.