Rainwater Harvesting Standard 2022 Edition

The International Code Council is committed to providing the tools and resources that building safety professionals need to address real-time challenges that communities are facing – including water scarcity. To help address this important issue, an increasing number of communities throughout North America are utilizing rainwater harvesting systems to protect our water resources.   

Due to the rising usage of rainwater harvesting systems, the Code Council has collaborated with the CSA Group to update its 2018 rainwater harvesting standard.  

The latest edition of the standard, CSA B805/ICC 805:2022, provides updated guidance for property owners, contractors, builders, architects and code officials on designing and installing rainwater harvesting systems. The standard is now available on the Code Council’s website. 

Changes to this edition include updates to referenced standards, added definitions for different system types, changed filtration requirements for UV disinfection systems, and revisions to equations in Annex C.   

This standard has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an American National Standard.  This is the only ANSI standard that covers both rainwater and stormwater. It has also been developed in compliance with Standards Council of Canada (SCC) requirements and has been published as a National Standard of Canada.   

As part of our continued commitment to addressing water scarcity, the Code Council formed a Water Reuse Working Group to research all aspects of onsite water reuse and recommend updates to the 2027 International Codes® (I-Codes) and standards necessary to meet water reuse goals. The group recently held its first meeting to discuss methods to advance reuse opportunities and explore ways to protect public health and support local governments with water safety and conservation efforts.  

If you’d like to get involved, contact Rich Anderson, Director of PMG Resources, at randerson@iccsafe.org or Kevin McOsker, Vice President of Technical Services, at kmcosker@iccsafe.org.  

We also recommend checking out these resources for more background on rainwater harvesting systems: 

• Updated Rainwater Harvesting Standard: Conserving Water for the Long Run 
• Rainwater Standard Designed to Help Code Officials  
• Rainwater Harvesting Regulations Map 

Thank you for your continued engagement with the Code Council.