According to a recent article on SantaCruzSentinel.com, leaders from the California city of Scotts Valley are meeting tonight (a few hours from now) to debate a water-conservation measure that would affect all new buildings.

The suggested regulation calls for all new homes to use dual-flush toilets, and new commercial buildings to use dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals, “or plumb the commercial building[s] to be able to use recycled water in all toilets and urinals when recycled water is available.”

More and more towns and cities are likely to follow Scotts Valley’s example.  As sustainable building snowballs in both the residential and commercial construction sectors, expect legislation to keep up with technological advances.  I expect that as our ability to ‘build green’ expands, the requirements to do so will as well.