Scottsdale Code 31-83: Bottle Fillers at Every Fountain and Water at Every Urinal

Scottsdale amends "Only the following portions" of IPC Chapter 4. Three items are added:

1. 1New Section 410.1.1, water-bottle filling stations. "Water dispensers shall be an integral part of or installed adjacent to all drinking fountains."
2. 2New Section 421.4.3, trench drains. A shower built without a threshold gets a trough drain at the threshold, tied in between the drain inlet and the trap.
3. 3New Section 424.1.1, waterless urinals. "Waterless urinals shall have a water supply provided at all urinal rough-ins."

These sit on top of the 2021 International Plumbing Code, adopted at Sec. 31-80 with Appendices B, D and E. Ordinance 4550 adopted the set on September 20, 2022, effective January 1, 2023.

Because Sec. 31-83 amends only those portions, the 2021 IPC's own Section 410.4 still applies in Scottsdale: "Where restaurants provide drinking water in a container free of charge, drinking fountains shall not be required in those restaurants. In other occupancies where three or more drinking fountains are required, water dispensers shall be permitted to be substituted for not more than 50 percent of the required number of drinking fountains."

In short:

• Every drinking fountain gets a bottle filler, either as part of the same unit or right beside it.
• The rule reads "all drinking fountains," so it is not limited to fountains the fixture table requires.
• A waterless urinal still needs a water supply roughed in at its location.
• Nothing in Sec. 31-83 changes how many fountains or urinals a building needs.
• Under the unamended 410.4, a filler can count for up to half of the required fountains only where three or more are required, and a restaurant that provides free drinking water in a container needs no fountain.

• Water dispenser. The code's term for a bottle filling station, per the section heading "Water-bottle filling stations."
• Integral part of. A combination unit where the fountain and filler share one fixture.
• Installed adjacent to. The code does not define a distance. A reasonable reading is a separate filler mounted beside the fountain, on the same wall or alcove. Confirm the layout at plan review.
• Rough-in. The supply and drain piping set in the wall before the fixture is hung.
• Waterless urinal. A urinal with no flush water, using a trap cartridge or seal instead.

Designers, owners and plumbing contractors on buildings permitted under Scottsdale's IPC: offices, retail, restaurants, schools, gyms, medical buildings and multifamily common areas. The fountain rule applies whenever a drinking fountain is installed. The urinal rule applies whenever a waterless urinal goes in.

This does not apply if no drinking fountain or waterless urinal is being installed. It also does not change Scottsdale's fixture counts, which come from the IPC table the city did not amend in this section.

A Scottsdale Airpark office build-out. The plan shows one hi-lo fountain by the restrooms. Plan review expects a bottle filler with it, so the designer swaps in a combination unit with an integral filler. One supply, one waste, one fixture.

A school restroom renovation. The district picks waterless urinals for maintenance reasons. The plumber still runs a cold water supply to each urinal rough-in and caps it behind the wall.

The edge case. A tenant moving from Chandler to Scottsdale expects to use a bottle filler in place of the first required fountain, as Chandler's amendment allows. In Scottsdale the answer flips for a space that needs one fountain: Sec. 31-83 adds no substitution language, and the unamended 2021 IPC 410.4 allows dispensers only where three or more fountains are required, for not more than 50 percent of them.

1. 1Mark every drinking fountain on the plans with its bottle filler, integral or adjacent.
2. 2Note supply rough-ins at waterless urinal locations on the isometric.
3. 3Check thresholdless showers for the 421.4.3 trench drain.
4. 4Submit through Scottsdale SPUR with the fixture cut sheets so plan review sees the filler model.
5. 5Before rough-in inspection, walk the restroom core to confirm capped supplies at waterless urinals.

• Myth: a bottle filler can never count as a fountain in Scottsdale. Sec. 31-83 does not touch 410.4, so where three or more fountains are required, water dispensers may replace up to half of them, and restaurants that provide free drinking water in a container need none. Each fountain that is installed still needs its filler under 410.1.1.
• Myth: only required fountains need fillers. The text says "all drinking fountains."
• Myth: waterless means no water line. Scottsdale requires a supply at every waterless urinal rough-in.
• Myth: Scottsdale follows the same plumbing code as Phoenix. Scottsdale adopts the 2021 International Plumbing Code at Sec. 31-80, and these two rules are its own additions to that code.