Lake Co. forest preserve uses rainwater to power toilets

Recycling rainwater is one of several strategies that make the Ryerson Woods Welcome Center in Deerfield a model of green architecture.

Much of the rain that falls on the roof is collected and stored underground in a cistern - a big cement box that holds 60,000 gallons. That water is available, if need be, to fight a fire.

But it is a more unconventional use for that resource the Lake County Forest Preserve District has been pursuing since the center opened more than four years ago.

The district recently received approval to proceed with a plan to use rainwater to power five toilets and two urinals in the public restrooms at the welcome center. It was a goal of the district from the time the building was being designed.

And, officials are continuing to pursue a change in state law to make it easier for such systems to be used throughout Illinois. While it never has been prohibited, current state and local plumbing codes simply don't spell out where harvested rainwater can be used.

"It was planned to be part of the building all along," explained Andy Kimmel, the Lake County Forest Preserve District's deputy executive director. "We went ahead and put some of the plumbing in the building before we closed up the walls."

And there it has stayed, unconnected, as the district continued to pursue the issue with some help from local legislators and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

"It needs to be in the code somewhere," said Mandy Burrell Booth, assistant communications director for MPC.

In Lake County, the HSBC North America corporate headquarters in Mettawa apparently is the only facility using harvested rainwater to flush toilets.

For the past two years, the Illinois Department of Public Health, which oversees the state plumbing code, has been reviewing projects on request and has approved nine rainwater harvesting systems in the Chicago area.

Seven are in Chicago and include some park district facilities. A greenhouse and classroom building at Joliet Junior College and the headquarters of Panduit Corp. in Tinley Park also are on the list.

The department says the guidelines it is using are drawn from the Illinois Plumbing Code and are meant to assist project designers and plumbing inspectors.

While IDPH will continue to review rainwater harvesting projects on request, local officials may do so as well if they use those guidelines and follow the code.

The Lake County Forest Preserve District with MPC has been pushing for state legislation that would allow for the installation of such systems in a consistent manner anywhere in Illinois.

State Sen. Susan Garrett in January introduced legislation to address the issue. The measure passed in the Senate but has been referred to the House rules committee, effectively shelving that version, according to Diana Villamil, Garrett's legislative director.

The delay has been over language involving "jurisdictional issues" between unions, according to Peter Skosey, MPC vice president.

Supporters say this green technology has strong support but requires legislation to allow such systems to be routinely installed.

"Nobody involved in the debate thinks it's a bad idea," Skosey said.

A bill with amended language could be introduced in the veto session this fall but more likely will be sometime after the general election in November.

Meanwhile, Lake County officials received approval from IDPH to proceed. Work is expected to begin this week.

"We need to actually treat the water from the cistern before it goes to the toilets and we also have to dye it," said Nan Buckardt, the district's director of environmental education and public affairs.

Delivering the stored water to the bathrooms involves the installation of a pump, storage tank and piping to be done in two contracts totaling about $15,000. The work is expected to take two weeks or less.

Rainwater will be pumped from the cistern to the upper level of the building to make sure it's pressurized and it will be treated with ultraviolet light.

The district does not have a specific goal but likely will monitor water use to determine any savings, said Bob Speckmann, facilities development manager for the forest preserve district.

Buckardt said 13 western states allow rainwater to be used in this fashion as a conservation measure, but such measures have been slower to catch on here because of the relative abundance of water.

"I think that we probably will have a celebratory flush," she quipped. "We're very excited about it. It's such a fun thing to show people is possible."