Water Technology in Architecture | National Geographic

[Music] Here on the snowy slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon, it seems impossible that the U.S. could ever run low on water. But government-backed research says we could in little more than 50 years. [Music] Oregon relies heavily on snowmelt 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 today.

I've come to the city of Portland to meet Kyle Anderson, lead architect of Haslow and Eighth, an innovative housing development where technology is helping to significantly reduce residents' water footprint.

"The one thing about this project that makes it really 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 and for watering gardens. We're treating 45,000 gallons of black and gray water daily."

[Music] "And then we just celebrate it. It becomes part of the vernacular of the architecture. We call it science on display. It 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."

"Good to see you. Talk to me a little bit about the water-saving features in the building."

"We have a compact four-gallon dishwashing system, the low-flow shower, 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 and the detergent latch onto food particles to work effectively.

It's these small actions done by house builders 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. [Music]