Adobe Communities asked Khalifeh and Associates to look at ways to improve water conservation with irrigation of their landscapes. The response given was the first grey water system that received the correct approval from Los Angeles County officials.

This came during a period when the Los Angeles County was up against severe shortages of water. Adobe Communities showed that they were ready to invest in the future by looking for this type of grey water system. The application of this new process was implemented in a senior housing project with seventy individual units and the creators hoped to achieve a large reduction in the amount of water consumption.

When Khalifeh and Associates approached this task, they started by examining the different ways to lessen the use of fresh water. The idea that came from this exploration was to reuse the waste water by filtering it and making it safe for the laundry department of the senior housing project. When the washing machines discharges their water, it was kept in a large storage tank located underground. With a small cost of $60,000 the system was able to be easily implemented and eventually gave the housing project a 90 percent decrease in all water usage and a 25 year time frame to be a profitable decision.

The water was sent to the tank using a standard irrigation pump and met all of the County’s restrictions for grey water being released. However, it took some discussions before the plan was approved and the plan was put into place. The success of this project marks the first time that the County was able to use a grey water system to improve water conservation in a manner that not only saved money, but also reduced the environmental load of waste water for the entire Los Angeles community.