TIPS

— and then use it for other purposes, like watering ornamental plants outside or ushing toilets, at the same location. is water can contain dirt, oil, greases, lint and possibly human pathogens, so don’t use it to drink or water your vegetables, experts say.

Laundry-to-landscape systems installed by homeowners, which capture washing machine water for outdoor irrigation, can cost as little as $350, said Jon Novick, the environmental administrator for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

Whole house systems pipe water from showers and bathroom sinks through a treatment process and then send it to toilets to provide water for ushing. e system alone can cost $6,000 to $8,000, not including installation costs, so they’re more feasible for new houses or developments with multiple units, Novick said. ey’re often cost prohibitive for existing homes.

ese systems also come with a catch: Local governments need water rights that allow for reuse, which limits the adoption of grey water programs, and new installations are only legal if the local government has o cially approved grey water reuse. People with preexisting systems should check with their local programs to see if their system can be grandfathered in.

As of July, six local governments have approved grey water reuse, including the city and county of Denver, Pitkin County, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and Golden. ose who draw water from wells will need to check their permits. Exempt well permits, for example, do not allow reuse of indoor water for outdoor irrigation.

If a grey water system saves 25 gallons per day and is installed in 500,000 homes, it could save 14,000 acre-feet per year. at’s enough water to supply 28,000 homes, Novick said.

But the counties that have approved grey water ordinances have seen little uptake. As of June, Denver had approved 30 systems; Castle Rock, 29 systems; and Pitkin County, zero, according to each county’s program manager.

Whether water e ciency measures translate into conservation in the Colorado River Basin depends on factors ranging from where a resident lives to local water management decisions.

Water pulled from the Colorado River Basin on the Western Slope never returns to the basin. Front Range residents could use less water in the hope that more water could stay on the Western Slope, but there are no incentives for