Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Public health recommends prohibiting individual graywater reuse for now, with metro‑district carve‑out
Loading...
Summary
Elbert County public health staff told commissioners that, because of staffing and oversight limits, they will recommend the county opt out of allowing individual homeowner graywater reuse under the recent state law while considering exceptions for metro districts or providers that can manage oversight.
At a Feb. 11 work study, Marissa Ginger and Public Health Director Sarah McIntosh briefed commissioners on the state’s new graywater allowance and recommended the county prohibit individual homeowner graywater reuse for the time being because of oversight capacity concerns.
Ginger summarized how graywater (laundry, shower, sink water) can be reused in plumbing for toilet flushing or irrigation and noted Denver Public Health materials that list benefits. "I would want to prohibit individual homeowners reusing their gray water," she told the board, while adding she would be open to allowing reuse for metro districts or water providers that have the staffing and operational oversight to manage systems.
Ginger and McIntosh said the state recently passed a house bill (effective Jan. 1) creating a framework that allows reuse unless a county passes a resolution to prohibit it; counties must adopt codes and permitting to allow reuse. Many counties have chosen to prohibit graywater initially because of the staffing and monitoring demands. "A lot of the counties are prohibiting it at this time," Ginger said, citing staff and inspection capacity as the principal constraint.
The board discussed options for carving out metro districts or larger water providers that can operate oversight internally. Ginger proposed drafting a graywater‑prohibition resolution and posting it alongside the OWTS regulatory changes so the county can gather public comment at the same Board of Health meeting.
Ending: Staff will draft a resolution to prohibit individual homeowner graywater reuse while drafting language to permit metro‑district implementations where operators have existing oversight capacity; the resolution and related regulations will be posted for public comment at the Board of Health meeting.
