The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced its decision via a Federal Register notice to maintain the current specifications for several WaterSense-labeled products. EPA reviewed the product performance criteria as required by America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018.
Graphic courtesy of EPA
To earn a WaterSense label, products must:
- Be independently certified,
- Use at least 20% less water,
- Save energy, and
- Perform as well or better than standard models.
Tens of thousands of different product models have been certified to the standard.
WaterSense has helped Americans save a cumulative 3.4 trillion gallons of water, and more than $84.2 billion in water and energy bills through the end of 2018. Additionally, the use of WaterSense labeled products saved 462.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
In addition to announcing the completion of the product review, the notice also contained requests for input and information on:
- Data/surveys/studies to help assess consumer satisfaction with WaterSense-labeled products
- Whether EPA should include customer satisfaction criteria in the WaterSense program guidelines
Comments are being accepted until June 9 and are being posted as received; previously submitted comments can be viewed here. All are encouraged to submit information regarding their use of WaterSense-labeled products in their projects, their and/or their customers’ level of satisfaction with different types of WaterSense-labeled products, and thoughts on including customer satisfaction as part of the certification criteria.
For more details about NAHB’s sustainable and green building initiatives, contact Sustainability and Green Building Program Manager Michelle Diller. To stay current on high-performance residential building, follow NAHB’s Sustainability and Green Building team on Twitter.
