Orange County NC Website
ao <br />3 <br />4. Develop sustainable landscape guidelines and requirements to ensure that <br />landscape and irrigation system design, installation and maintenance are more <br />water efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional practices. Such <br />measures could include limits on the amount of turf that can be established on a given <br />site and irrigated with OWASA-supplied potable water, as well as requirements for the <br />placement and design of the irrigation systems. Requirements such as these would be <br />most appropriately addressed through the Towns'. and County's own development rules <br />and requirements, rather than through new OWASA standards of service. Xeriscaping, <br />the use of harvested rainwater and reclaimed water would be encouraged as alternatives <br />to potable OWASA water. <br />Recommended longer-Term Actions <br />1. Enact requirements for new development projects to connecf to OWASA's <br />reclaimed water system when such service is available. Requirements could <br />mandate that existing irrigation systems served with OWASA potable water must be <br />connected to the reclaimed water system when and where available. <br />This could be accomplished similar to the way in which the Towns now require, as a condition of <br />approval, that new development be served by the OWASA water and sewer system. A <br />requirement that potable water-based irrigation systems be converted to reclaimed water <br />service could be one of OWASA's proposed new conditions of service. <br />2. Subject to the determination that sufficient legal authority exists, enact aretrofit- <br />on-sale policy/requirement that property owners retrofit existing buildings with <br />ultra-low flush toilets, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, and other water- <br />saving fixtures prior to the sale, transfer of ownership, or change of use of a <br />building. <br />3. Subject to the determination that sufficient legal. authority exists, enact a <br />policy/provision that prohibits any restrictions via deed, covenant, Homeowners <br />Association rules, etc., that would limit a properly owner's ability to implement <br />sustainable landscaping, rainwater harvesting, or other water conservation <br />practices otherwise permitted bylaw. <br />