(soft music)
- Here on the snowy slopes
of Mt. Hood, Oregon,
it seems impossible
that the U.S. could ever run low on water.
But government-backed
research says it could,
in little more than 50 years.
(gurgling water)
Oregon relies heavily on snow
melt for its fresh water.
But when the winter snows fail,
it can cause severe water
shortages in the summer.
And those snows are failing more.
(gentle music)
Today I've come to the City of Portland
to meet Kyle Anderson, lead architect
of Hassalo on Eighth, an
innovative housing development
where technology is
helping to significantly
reduce residents' water footprint.
- The one thing about this project,
what makes it real unique,
is that we had the opportunity
to have critical mass.
You know, to take three acres of asphalt
and bring on a million square feet
of 657 apartments, all
of a sudden the demand
for the resources becomes much higher.
So, the savings become
that much higher as well.
- And so talk to me about the red tanks.
This is the NORM system.
- So, NORM is an acronym for
Natural Organic Recycling Machine.
This development treats
all black and gray water
on site for the residents.
We basically are harvesting water.
All of the apartments
for flushing toilets,
for watering gardens, we're
treating 45,000 gallons
of black and gray water daily.
And then we just celebrate it.
It becomes part of the
vernacular of the architecture.
We call it science on display.
Actually drove people to this development.
As we build more and more
and we get denser and denser
this is going to become
more and more important.
Maybe we should be
approaching infrastructure
in a different way.
- There are a lot of simple
and accessible technologies
that have been put into this building
that we can use in all our homes.
- Hi, good to see you.
- Hi, how are you?
- Talk to me a little bit
about the water saving
features in the building.
- We have compact four
gallon dish washing system,
the low-flow shower, and
the front loading washers
and dryers.
- You didn't think about
all these sustainable things
but they're already just built in for you.
- Sustainability by design, right?
And it's becoming like the new norm.
- But many homes in the U.S. still use
standard top-loading washing machines
that can use around 45
gallons of water per load.
But front-loaders use as little as 13.
- And many of us still
rinse our dirty dishes
under a running faucet before loading them
into the dishwasher.
This is a huge waste of water
because you actually need
the dishes to be dirty
as the enzymes in the detergent
latch onto food particles
to work effectively.
It's these small actions
done by housebuilders
and homeowners across America that can
add up to big water savings.
And that can make a huge difference
to our nation's water security.
(upbeat music)
