Power to the Green Plumbers (GreenPlumbers USA, via UTNE)

[pinto]

Power to the Green Plumbers
GreenPlumbers USA director Megan Lehtonen on inciting a wastewater revolution

Interview by Jessica Kellner, from Natural Home

As director of GreenPlumbers USA, Megan Lehtonen connects plumbers with eco-accreditation and comprehensive training on everything from solar hot water to natural wastewater treatment. Adapted from an Australian program, GreenPlumbers USA already has trained over 3,000 plumbers since launching in 2008.



How do you train plumbers to be green?

Plumbers are incredibly skilled and knowledgeable already. We challenge them to look at their careers in a different way by extending their education to include new technology and advanced conservation techniques. The five courses include training on everything from solar hot water to how to conduct a 50-point water audit. Plumbing companies that commit to training all of their technicians and adhering to a code of ethics can become licensed GreenPlumbers, and are listed on our website.


How could efficient plumbing help reduce climate change?

Saving water and energy reduces the environmental impact of our society. The transportation of water throughout California, for example, accounts for 19 percent of the state’s electrical use. Saving water saves energy. Plumbers are the face-to-face solution providers for consumers, and efficient plumbing could have an enormous impact on our country’s footprint.

You call for a “complete culture change in the plumbing industry.” What does that mean?

Top to bottom—manufacturers, wholesalers, contractors, and plumbers—the industry needs to adapt. For us, culture change means plumbers stepping up and taking responsibility to be champions of conservation. America needs to save water, and the plumbing industry needs to be part of the solution.

Why is it important to reduce water use?

Water is a finite resource. The water we have is the water we’re going to have, and Americans use on average twice as much as people in other countries. We can do better. You’ve heard it said that water is the new oil. Someday soon we’ll be saying, “Do you remember when we used to flush our toilets with drinking water?”

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http://www.utne.com/Environment/Power-to-the-Green-Plumbers.aspx

[HillbillyBob]

1. Most of us still flush our toilets with drinking water.

We plan to redo our water system here at our place to replace the toilets with dual flush so that they use less water for yellow and brown.
First we have to swap out the old 5.5g (or there about) with 1.6 g flush wih the duals. I have lowered the levels as much as I could on the adjustment and put 1/2 milk jugs in the tanks.
We want to put in tanks to collect rain water as well as a gray water systemm to feed water to the orchard trees from the kitchen and bath sinks and the clothes and dish washers. While we recycle the grey water to the toilets.

[pinto]

2. I like this group's approach - it's so basic and doable on a local level.

I am re-routing gray water, as much as I can, as well.