With an eye to a regulator, design professional and environmentalist user base, the new ASTM International Subcommittee E60.07 on Water Use and Conservation will target standards supporting sustainability and sustainable development of water-related products and processes.
ASTM Committee E60 on Sustainability Chair Michael Schmeida says E60.07 will a) address a wide range of issues related to the environmental, social, economic and other attributes of water; and, b) acquire, promote and disseminate high-quality technical knowledge to stimulate research in and the development of specifications associated with water use. “Water sustainability is a major, growing concern for all aspects of society: business, public health [and] food,” he adds. “The time for this subcommittee has come, and I applaud the E60 executive committee for elevating ASTM’s work in this area.”
Chairing E60.07 is Rick Layton of Haines, Jones & Cadbury, a Bentonville, Ark.-based plumbing products distributor. A longtime ASTM member, he is affiliated with organizations dedicated to water standards and code development, and has overseen efforts surrounding residential wastewater, rainwater quality and building-water stewardship and reclamation. The subcommittee will be positioned to pursue standards development in areas ranging from fixture efficiency in homes to “net-zero” water use to hydraulic fracturing in energy resource extraction.