The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR program has been highly effective and the blue square label on approved products is widely recognized nationally and internationally. The WaterSense program follows a similar approach to water conservation, focusing on low-flow plumbing fixtures that exceed the requirements of federal water standards. The program also provides specific recommendations for each building type, based on collected data and case studies for successful projects.
Just as the ENERGY STAR program has a scoring system for buildings, the WaterSense program includes the U.S. EPA's Water Score:
- The Water Score can be calculated with the Portfolio Manager tool, as well as the ENERGY STAR score.
- The Water Score is also a comparative scale from 1 to 100 that indicates how the building compares to similar properties across the country.
- Calculating the Water Score is very simple for homeowners who already use Portfolio Manager, as they only need to add one full year of water bill data.
Saving water leads to energy savings, as pumping and heating costs are reduced when a building uses fewer gallons per year. As a result, an improvement in the water score is likely to also result in a better ENERGY STAR score. Water savings also lead to off-site energy savings by reducing the workload at treatment plants.
Save water with an improved plumbing design for your building.
Improving a Building’s EPA Water Score
The US EPA has published several guides to help homeowners reduce water consumption and improve their Water Score. As of October 2018, published guides cover four applications that represent a large portion of water consumption:
- Bathrooms
- Residential kitchens and laundries
- Landscaping and irrigation
- Mechanical systems
WaterSense-labeled plumbing fixtures consume at least 20% less water than conventional fixtures, and even greater savings are possible when replacing older fixtures affected by leaks. The WaterSense label covers a wide range of plumbing fixtures: residential and commercial toilets, showers, bathroom faucets, urinals, pre-rinse spray valves, irrigation controllers and spray sprinkler bodies.
The WaterSense label also applies to entire homes, and a family of four can save more than 50,000 gallons per year with a labeled home. This reduces annual utility bills by about $600.
Although there is no labeling program for commercial facilities, the US EPA has collected data on water use for many types of properties, such as hospitals, offices, hotels and restaurants. Based on the breakdown of water consumption for each type of building, the WaterSense website provides advice to property managers. For example, bathrooms typically represent the largest fraction of water consumption, but in restaurants they are surpassed by kitchens.
WaterSense program results
The WaterSense program was first introduced in 2006 and has been highly successful in reducing water consumption in buildings across the US:
- From 2012 to 2017, WaterSense-labeled plumbing fixtures increased from 8,577 to 27,630. The largest product categories are faucets (15,945), showers (6,570) and toilets (3,184).
- The program has saved more than 2.7 trillion gallons of water since its launch in 2006, and in 2017 alone it saved 631 billion gallons. This is equivalent to the total consumption of all US households for 98 days.
- The accumulated electricity savings total 367 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 34.1 million US homes.
- Thanks to the WaterSense program, consumers saved $63.8 billion on water and energy bills.
- EPA's Water Score is a recent addition to the program, introduced in 2017. It was developed to replicate the success of the ENERGY STAR scoring system.
Qualified plumbing engineers can design installations that minimize water consumption while helping you find promising upgrades to existing properties. Working with professionals also ensures code compliance and you can avoid design errors that typically delay project approval and construction.
