IAPMO Announces Plans to Develop American National Standard for Water Efficiency

ONTARIO, Calif. — The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials will commence development of an American National Standard for water efficiency and sanitation to be known as IAPMO/ANSI WE-Stand 2017.

The standard, which will use as its basis the water provisions within IAPMO’s 2015 Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement, draws upon IAPMO’s core competency and industry expertise in plumbing systems for the purpose of providing comprehensive requirements to optimize water use practices attributed to the built environment while maintaining protection of the public health, safety and welfare.

IAPMO intends to publish the standard in December 2017. Upon publication, WE-Stand will replace the GPMCS.

“With increasing demand, shrinking supplies, reduced quality and reliability, constrained infrastructure, climate change and pervasive droughts throughout the world, there is a critical need to reduce water consumption attributed to the built environment through conservation and reuse,” said IAPMO CEO GP Russ Chaney.

“With water conservation and recycling comes increased risks to public health, safety and building systems performance. This American National Standard is needed to provide a set of requirements developed by the foremost subject matter experts in the fields of plumbing and water efficiency that optimize built environment water use practices in and around buildings while maintaining protection to public health, safety and welfare.”

In 2007, IAPMO’s board of directors kick started the concept of developing codified water-efficiency provisions that would result in a 20 percent reduction in water use from the minimum code requirements contained in the Uniform Plumbing Code. From those efforts, the Green Technical Committee was formed and the 2010 GPMCS developed and published, a first of its kind document to seamlessly mesh with existing codes where Authorities Having Jurisdiction preferred more stringent efficiency provisions.

WE-Stand 2017 will be developed using the ANSI consensus procedures IAPMO’s flagship documents, the Uniform Codes, have utilized for more than a decade, ensuring conformance to ANSI’s strict list of essential requirements.

Members of the existing Green Technical Committee, as well as other manufacturers, potential users of the standard, installers and maintainers, labor representatives, design professionals, enforcing authorities, consumers and special experts with a desire to be involved, are invited and encouraged to submit an application to participate on the new WE-Stand Technical Committee.

For more information on WE-Stand 2017 and/or to apply for membership on the WE-Stand Technical Committee, contact Dan Cole, IAPMO technical services supervisor, at 708-995-3009 or dan.cole@iapmo.org.