Feeling Better about Oregon Greywater

Six months into the legalization and permitting of greywater reuse in Oregon starting here and the permitting experience summarized here, the Oregon DEQ reports issuing five (5) permits. The geographic distribution of the permits is depicted on this map. Two permits were issued in Ashland, so that is the reason for only four markers on the map. The first permit in the state was apparently issued in the Salem metropolitan area to the Rainbow Water Coalition.

The geography of greywater permitting in Oregon is interesting because the twelve member Graywater Advisory Committee was convened to represent a broad cross section of potential greywater reusers across the state, and yet it appears that few of their communities embrace the permitting program because there are no permits issued in the areas where they reside. One of the members of the Graywater Advisory Committee from the underrepresented southern Willamette Valley area was quoted in a regional newspaper that greywater reuse in Oregon would probably start slowly but that it would still feel good. With the rainy season in western Oregon just starting today, we have at least another year to evaluate whether the hammer is a better approach to greywater reuse in Oregon than the scalpel approach used elsewhere in the western US.

* * *

Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast. 

~William Shakespeare