THE US ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) launched the WaterSense program in 2006 with a goal to integrate water efficiency into the market for irrigation and plumbing products. Over the past 12 years, more than 27,000 different models of toilets, faucets, urinals, controllers, sprinkler bodies, spray valves, and homes have earned the WaterSense label, and utilities and other organizations have made WaterSense the cornerstone of their water conservation outreach.
As a result, more than 1,900 WaterSense utility, manufacturer, retail, builder, and other organizational partners have helped consumers and businesses save 2.7 trillion gallons of water since 2006. On October 4, 2018, EPA recognized 20 of these organizations for their ongoing support for the program and water efficiency with Sustained Excellence, Partner of the Year, and Excellence Awards, during the 11th WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Through innovation and commitment, our partners are helping to transform the marketplace for water-efficient, high-performing products and homes,” says Veronica Blette, WaterSense program manager. “The WaterSense Sustained Excellence, Partner of the Year, and Excellence Award winners are leading the charge to save water, energy, and money for future generations.”
Following is a summary of the WaterSense 2018 award winners’ creative approaches to promote water efficiency across the country.
SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department: To win its second consecutive Sustained Excellence Award, the Athens-Clarke County Public Utilities Department Water Conservation Office expanded its outreach efforts, reaching over 9,000 residents through events, school visits, tours, workshops, and festivals. One event, a “Tappy Hour” at a local brewery during Fix a Leak Week 2017, celebrated the winner of an art contest to paint fire hydrants. More than 8,000 Athens-Clarke County customers pledged to reduce their water use during 2017’s National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, making the county one of five national winners of the Challenge.
“Athens-Clarke County recognizes the challenges in changing consumer behavior as it relates to water conservation,” says Mayor Nancy Denson. “We are proud to partner with EPA in promoting WaterSense labeled products, which reduce water consumption without compromising effectiveness.”
The City of Charlottesville (Virginia): The City of Charlottesville, a three-time Promotional Partner of the Year, earned its first Sustained Excellence Award with a variety of creative initiatives. When the region experienced its first significant drought in 10 years, Charlottesville consulted Water Sense’s When in Drought tools to blanket the area with water conservation messages and watering restriction notices, including car magnets on city vehicles, a television ad, postcards, yard signs on public lands, targeted ads on the weather.com app, and social media such as #WaterTipWednesday Facebook posts.
“Participation in the EPA WaterSense program has allowed us to expand and enhance our water conservation programs, and the easy access to its messaging tools has been extremely helpful with our public education and outreach efforts,” says Lauren Hildebrand, director of utilities for the City of Charlottesville.
Cobb County (Georgia) Water System: Cobb County Water System received its second Sustained Excellence Award for its continued promotion of water efficiency and WaterSense campaigns. With the area under Level 2 drought for most of 2017, Cobb County created the Drought Busters campaign and encouraged citizens to combat drought by taking the We’re for Water Pledge. Cobb County helped multifamily property owners track and improve water use with EPA’s Water Score tool and piloted a Septic Pump Out Party with Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District to show homeowners the benefits water efficiency can have on their systems.
“Cobb County Water has been a WaterSense partner since the program was established. It has been the cornerstone of our water efficiency efforts,” says Cobb County Water System Director Steve McCullers.
Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District: The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District continued its tradition of collaboration on water conservation with its 55 member utilities, earning its first Sustained Excellence Award. For its local utility members, the Metro Water District provided tool kits to promote Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Your Better Bathroom, and Shower Better using WaterSense materials. The Metro Water District also launched a technical assistance program to help its member utilities promote its Pre-Rinse Spray Valve Replacement Program, Toilet Replacement Program, and Commercial Water Audits, and it worked with The Home Depot to help promote its member utilities’ toilet rebates in their stores.
“The WaterSense program is an important tool that has helped metro Atlanta reduce its water use dramatically, even as our region’s population has grown,” says Charlotte Nash, chairman of the Metro Water District. “We are honored to be recognized for our work promoting this highly effective program.”
American Standard: American Standard, part of the global LIXIL corporation, received its first WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award after several years of award-winning WaterSense labeled product development. In 2017, American Standard distributed WaterSense labeled products to 11,236 US retail outlets, a 34% increase over 2016. The manufacturer also received multiple design awards for WaterSense labeled products, including the 2017 Beautiful Kitchens & Baths 30 Most Innovative Products, A Design Gold Award, GREEN GOOD DESIGN Award, and KBCulture Award, and it was a finalist for the R&D 100 Award.
“We’ve used our vast public platform to help build awareness of the WaterSense sustainability message through our government relations, marketing, public relations, and social media efforts,” says Troy Benavidez, vice president of public affairs for LIXIL Americas. “We’ll continue this work to enhance living spaces and truly make a positive impact on society.”
Delta Faucet Company: Delta Faucet Company achieved its fourth Sustained Excellence Award, continuing its tradition of producing and promoting water-saving technologies and products. In 2017, Delta wrote a proposal that eventually helped WaterSense incorporate rain showers into the WaterSense labeled showerhead specification. All Delta toilets have earned the WaterSense label, and its WaterSense labeled Brizo product line, featuring faucets and showerheads, continued to win multiple awards in 2017 for its design and water-saving properties.
“As a four-time WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award winner, Delta Faucet Company is dedicated to developing innovative designs and technologies for the kitchen and bath that pair water efficiency with maximum performance,” says Jai Shah, Delta Faucet Company president.
KB Home: The leading builder of WaterSense labeled homes, KB Home earned its fourth Sustained Excellence Award. In 2017, KB Home built 170 new homes that met the WaterSense criteria and included WaterSense labeled fixtures in all the homes it built. In total, nearly 1,000 KB Homes have met the WaterSense specification and more than 500,000 WaterSense labeled fixtures have been installed in the company’s new homes.
“Water conservation is a growing imperative for homebuilders and homeowners alike,” says Dan Bridleman, KB Home senior vice president. “KB Home is pleased to have been the first national builder to adopt the WaterSense efficiency standard and to continue to support the important water conservation goals of the WaterSense program with every home we build.”
Energy Inspectors Corporation: Energy Inspectors Corporation earned its first Sustained Excellence Award, after receiving four Licensed Certification Provider Partner of the Year Awards in previous years. By getting involved with builders early in the planning process, Energy Inspectors helps implement water-efficient design aspects into the initial home construction and mitigates expenses down the road. With over 90 in-house field raters, Energy Inspectors can closely control the quality of their inspections. In 2017, they trained 12 raters on the WaterSense specification for homes.
Galo LeBron, chairman and CEO of Energy Inspectors Corporation and Ei Companies, thanked the “hundreds of employees that make up the members of our team at Ei Companies whose work is being recognized by the EPA at the national level.”
Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership: The Sonoma Marin Saving Water Partnership (SMSWP), a “parent” professional certifying organization that allows other organizations to certify professionals using its Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) program, earned its second Sustained Excellence Award. During 2017, SMSWP restructured its program and worked with a group of 21 water use efficiency and landscape experts to revise the QWEL curriculum and develop new reference and training materials. To date, SMSWP and the organizations that have adopted the QWEL program have certified more than 2,500 irrigation professionals.
“The QWEL program continues to grow and thrive, and we are very proud of the work we have accomplished in achieving greater water-use efficiency in both theory and practice,” says Windsor Town Councilmember Mark Millan, chair of the Water Advisory Committee.
conservation and efficiency among
landscaping professionals
PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS OF THE YEAR
The Broward (Florida) Water Partnership: Since its inception in 2011, the Broward Water Partnership has helped save nearly 2 billion gallons of water. Among several creative promotional initiatives, the Partnership created a series of YouTube videos about Broward’s toilet rebate program and water-saving devices to explain and streamline the rebate process for residents. Broward also collaborated with local big box stores to promote the rebate program, giving incentives to store managers that submitted the most rebates. Over 2,600 toilet rebates were awarded over the course of 2017. In addition to rebates, 2,100 showerheads, nearly 2,000 faucet aerators, and hundreds of leak detection tablets were distributed to residents for free.
“In Broward County, we emphasize water conservation as the most cost-effective measure to ensure the sustainability of future water supplies,” says Ana Carolina Coelho Maran, water resources manager. “We are so honored that our efforts do not go unseen and pledge to continue to prioritize water conservation and support the WaterSense message.”
Citrus County (Florida) Utilities: Citrus County Utilities earned its third WaterSense Promotional Partner of the Year Award for its expanded outreach at events, in classrooms, and with partners in the community. As part of its free irrigation evaluation program, WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers were installed at 14 out of 34 sites in 2017. Program participants that installed a WaterSense labeled controller have shown a 48% average decrease in water use, compared to a 36% decrease for those that only had an irrigation evaluation.
“The WaterSense partnership provides a valuable resource for us to assist customers in reducing their water use, which helps to manage our groundwater resources and preserve our environmentally sensitive areas,” says Ken Cheek, director, Citrus County Department of Water Resources.
the City’s water conservation efforts.
City of Fort Worth (Texas): The City of Fort Worth expanded its water conservation outreach efforts through collaboration with WaterSense and other WaterSense partners during 2017. Fort Worth Water partnered with WaterSense to create a Fix a Leak Week 2017 Hispanic outreach pilot program featuring outreach materials based on Lotería, a Mexican game of chance similar to bingo. The City distributed Lotería cards and more than 400 water conservation kits at four pop-up events throughout the community. The City of Fort Worth attended many other community events throughout 2017 to reach over 17,000 people with water conservation messages.
“Fort Worth understands the value of water and will continue to encourage water conservation within our community through valuable programs and partnerships, such as our collaboration with WaterSense,” says City of Fort Worth Water Director Chris Harder.
The City of Plano (Texas): The City of Plano earned its Promotional Partner of the Year Award by promoting a variety of WaterSense campaigns and following up with residents to ensure they heard the message. The City conducted workshops and courses for both Fix a Leak Week and the Sprinkler Spruce-Up campaign and received positive participant feedback via post-event surveys. The City of Plano promoted its WaterSense labeled toilet rebate program by collaborating with The Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement and awarded 1,105 toilet rebates to residents in 2017 alone.
“We are firmly committed to water conservation and look forward to our continued partnership with WaterSense, a leader in national water conservation efforts,” says Rachel Patterson, Plano’s director of environmental health and sustainability.
2018 WATERSENSE EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
Eight WaterSense partners received Excellence Awards to recognize their support for a specific aspect of the program in 2017. Below are some highlights of partners who excelled in education and outreach/public relations, strategic collaboration, WaterSense labeled product promotion, and certification program growth.
Excellence in Education and Outreach:
- City of Durham (North Carolina) Water Management partnered with Lowe’s to offer conservation clinics to more than 100 residents. It also conducted 312 residential and commercial water use assessments and distributed free WaterSense labeled showerheads to many participants.
- City of Frisco (Texas) reached more than 30,000 people with water-saving tips through a variety of events, educational efforts, and workshops.
- Sacramento (California) Suburban Water District used a variety of communications channels to promote water conservation and WaterSense during Fix a Leak Week and Sprinkler Spruce-Up, reaching over 55,000 residents.
Excellence in Strategic Collaboration:
- The Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) worked with WaterSense to provide outdoor water efficiency webinars; it also partnered with American Water, Rachio, and WaterDM to publish a report on peak day water demand and collaborated with WaterDM to determine the positive impacts of decades-long water conservation efforts in two Arizona towns.
Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products:
- Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership continued to offer free Water Smart Home Evaluations, including free WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators, to more than 3,000 homes in 2017.
Excellence in Education and Public Relations:
- The Toro Company received its third Excellence Award—and its fourth WaterSense Award overall—for education and public relations efforts ranging from scholarships for students to attend the Irrigation Association Show to sponsorship of the award-winning Water Zone radio show.
Excellence in Labeled Products in the Marketplace:
- Hunter Industries became the first manufacturer to earn the WaterSense label for irrigation spray sprinkler bodies, and it conducted a survey to identify the barriers to contractors using WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers, which it used to develop a new type of weather-based controller that better manages the needs of contractors.
Excellence in Certification Program Growth:
- San Diego (California) County Water Authority (SDCWA) offered 12 QWEL certification classes, two of them in Spanish, with over 200 landscape professionals participating and 145 getting certified, bringing the total number of professionals in the region certified by SDCWA to more than 470 since 2016.
