WaterSense, an EPA partnership program launched in 2006, seeks to enhance the market for water-efficient products and services by building a national brand for water efficiency. If you have questions about WaterSense or labeled products, please contact the WaterSense Helpline at (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) or e-mail watersense@epa.gov.
Fixing Leaks Around the Home
Being handy around the house doesn't have to be difficult. Common types of leaks found in the home are leaking toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. These types of leaks are easily correctable, in most cases requiring only a few tools and hardware that can pay for themselves in water savings.
Did you know…
- 10 percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day
- A constantly running toilet can waste more than 200 gallons of water every day.
- A leaky faucet or showerhead that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year.
- A showerhead leaking 10 drips per minute wastes enough water to run the dishwasher 60 times
- An irrigation system at 60 psi with a leak the thickness of a dime can waste about 6,300 gallons of water per month.
- Retrofitting the house with WaterSense labeled fixtures could save a family of four approximately $2,000 in water bills over the lifespan of the products.
Fix-a-Leak Week is March 15-21, 2010!!
EPA Releases Final WaterSense Specification for Showerheads On March 4, WaterSense announced the final specification for showerheads. Manufacturers can now submit their showerheads for testing to earn the WaterSense label, and consumers will soon be able to renovate their bathrooms with the full suite of WaterSense labeled products. If every household in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, it would save Americans more than $1.5 billion on their water bills, saving more than 250 billion gallons annually. This is enough water to supply more than 2.5 million U.S. homes with their water needs for a year. In addition, this simple change would also reduce the nation’s energy bills by $2.5 billion for heating water. Standard showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute (gpm), but showerheads that earn the WaterSense label must demonstrate that they use no more than 2.0 gpm. As with all WaterSense specifications, EPA included performance
criteria to ensure a good shower experience. EPA worked with a variety of stakeholders—including consumers who tested various showerheads—to develop criteria for water coverage and spray intensity. Independent laboratories test showerheads for these attributes before certifying them to earn the WaterSense label. Whether they are replacing an older, inefficient showerhead or simply looking for ways to reduce water use and utility bills in the home, consumers can look for the WaterSense label on showerheads—along with faucets, aerators, and toilets—to help identify models that save water and perform well. EPA encourages partners and interested stakeholders to help raise awareness about WaterSense labeled showerheads when they begin to hit the marketplace in April! For more information,
please visit www.epa.gov/watersense.
EPA Releases Final WaterSense Specification for New Homes “Home builders can now partner with EPA and earn the WaterSense label for their newly built homes, helping to create livable communities and quality homes that are easy to maintain,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “These homes will save homeowners as much as $200 a year on utility bills compared to their current homes.” These homes will feature WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures, ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances (if installed), water-efficient landscaping, and hot water delivery systems that deliver hot water faster, so homeowners don’t waste water—or
energy—waiting at the tap. By investing in WaterSense labeled homes, American home buyers can reduce their water usage by more than 10,000 gallons per year—enough to fill a backyard swimming pool—and save enough energy annually to power a television for four years. Designed to complement existing green building programs, WaterSense labeled new homes will be 20 percent more efficient than typical new homes, and must be independently inspected and certified by an EPA licensed certification provider to meet the WaterSense criteria for water efficiency and performance. The roles and responsibilities of all applicable parties
are defined in more detail in the final specification. EPA wants to thank the hundreds of partners and stakeholders that helped develop the specification. And now WaterSense looks forward to working with our program partners to spread the word about this exciting new opportunity! Please help us welcome into the WaterSense partnership builders and other organizations that want to bring WaterSense labeled new homes to their communities. To view a message from Pete Silva, Assistant Administrator for Water, about the WaterSense new homes specification, visit the WaterSense web site.
WaterSense Releases Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its WaterSense draft specification for weather-based irrigation controllers. EPA encourages all interested partners and other stakeholders to provide comments on the draft specification before the January 18, 2010 deadline. This specification represents an exciting milestone for the program, as it will be the first irrigation product to be eligible for the WaterSense label. Weather-based irrigation controllers have the potential to save significant amounts of water, both individually and at the national level. An estimated 13.5 million irrigation systems are currently installed in residential lawns across the United States, and an additional 308,000 new systems are installed each year as a part of new home construction. Of the 13.5 million installed units, less than 10 percent use weather-based controllers to schedule irrigation, with the majority using standard clock timer controllers. Replacing a standard clock timer controller with a WaterSense labeled controller could save 11,600 gallons per household per year—which adds up to a potential savings of nearly 150 billion gallons per year across the United States. As
with all WaterSense specifications, the draft weather-based irrigation controller specification includes performance criteria to ensure the controllers can adequately meet landscape watering needs without overwatering. The draft specification addresses both stand-alone and add-on controllers that utilize current climatological data and some form of evapotranspiration (ET) data as a basis for scheduling irrigation. The draft specification can be found here:
WaterSense to Label First Commercial Product - Flushing Urinals...
With the recently finalized WaterSense specification for flushing urinals, you will soon see WaterSense labeled products in commercial and institutional restrooms.
WaterSense labeled urinals have the potential to help save businesses and institutions water and money on utility bills. If all urinals installed before 1994 were replaced with WaterSense labeled models, it would save nearly 36 billion gallons of water annually—equal to the flow over Niagara Falls in 20 hours.
To earn the WaterSense label, urinals must flush using no more than half a gallon, well below the current federal standard of 1.0 gallon per flush (gpf). Older models installed before regulations were in place can use even more water—as much as 5.0 gpf. As with all WaterSense labeled products, urinals must undergo independent, third-party testing and certification before earning the WaterSense label.
Schools, restaurants, businesses, and other commercial buildings can benefit from the financial savings of WaterSense labeled urinals. If a high school of 1,000 students replaced its inefficient urinals, for example, it could save enough to supply water for nearly 700 households.
EPA estimates that there are about 12 million urinals currently in use in the United States, and up to 65 percent of them are inefficient models that use significantly more than the federal standard. For every inefficient urinal replaced with a WaterSense labeled model, 4,600 gallons are saved annually. Learn more about the WaterSense specification for flushing urinals at http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pp/urinals.htm
EPA Announces Notice of Intent for Pre-Rinse Spray Valves WaterSense and ENERGY STAR® are teaming up to develop a specification for pre-rinse spray valves. The programs have issued a joint notice of intent (NOI) that outlines EPA’s approach to developing the draft specification, the efficiency and performance criteria EPA is working to define, and the technical issues that still need to be resolved. EPA will hold a webinar to discuss the scope of a proposed pre-rinse spray valve research study and next steps in the specification development process on Wednesday, September 30 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).
Less Is More—a Lot More
Savings, that is. In 2008, consumers who installed WaterSense labeled toilets, faucets, and faucet accessories helped save more than 9.3 billion gallons of water and realized $55 billion in savings on water and sewer utility bills.
These savings resulted from the sale of 1.38 million WaterSense labeled toilets and 4.4 mi llion WaterSense labeled bathroom faucets and aerators. To date, buyers can choose from more than 300 different toilet models and more than 1,000 different types of water-saving faucets and accessories such as aerators that have earned the WaterSense label since 2007.
And water is only part of the equation. WaterSense labeled faucets saved U.S. households nearly 1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity from not heating the extra water, and utilities saved an additional 25 million kWh of electricity that otherwise would have been needed to pump and treat that water. This avoided the production of nearly 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to removing 180,000 automobiles from the road for one year. Something to contemplate the next time you wash your hands—with a WaterSense labeled faucet, we hope.
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