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More of our blue planet is covered with water than with land—yet only about one percent of that water is available to us. Fresh water is in greater demand than ever, while the supply is not changing. Along with household uses such as drinking, bathing, and washing, water is used on lawns and gardens. All these uses add up, and waste increases the numbers.
Two converging trends point to likely water shortages in parts of the United States. Areas with higher population growth also have higher per capita water use. More people using more water each will accelerate the pace of consumption. Reservoirs in western states are
already running low, and we have no way yet to replenish them. The best way to ensure an adequate supply of fresh water in the future is to conserve it now.
Having WaterSense
The standard rating system Energy Star helps consumers see two things on every labeled major appliance: how much the average operating cost will be, and how a given product compares to others in its class. Now, a similar system provides common points of reference for homeowners as they look for plumbing fixtures that save water.
The WaterSense program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes criteria for water efficiency and performance. Each product category has a different set of testing and certification
protocols. These serve as benchmarks for licensed third-party groups to use in testing. Products that meet all criteria for their category are allowed to use the WaterSense label. The program helps consumers find products that meet their expectations for performance and efficiency; it also encourages manufacturers to continue looking for ways to create better products.
To participate in the WaterSense program, each manufacturer must form a partnership agreement with the EPA. If the agency has established a specification for a category in which a company makes a product—for example, garbage disposal units—the manufacturer
has one year to pursue certification for that product. The manufacturer must then have the product certified by an independent, licensed body approved by the EPA.
Product categories that can currently earn WaterSense certification include home plumbing fixtures such as toilets, bathroom sink faucets, and showerheads. Landscape irrigation services, including drip irrigation systems and irrigation control technologies that use
sensors or weather-monitoring systems, may also qualify. And, because so many plumbing products are made for commercial and industrial use, the EPA has categories for commercial valve-type toilets, urinals, and steam sterilizers.
WaterSense Basics
WaterSense began as the result of meetings held in 2004 by the EPA. In those meetings, agency officials asked various groups for suggestions on creating a voluntary national program to promote the manufacture and use of water-efficient products. WaterSense was launched in 2005 with a specification development process for high-efficiency toilets (HETs) and with criteria for endorsing certification programs for irrigation professionals.
Since then, the EPA has used a set of principles from WaterSense as it selects products for evaluation, develops product specifications, and makes choices about label use, partner status, leader recognition, and marketing efforts. In order to qualify for the WaterSense label, products must
- Perform as well as, or better than, their less efficient counterparts
- Be about 20 percent more water-efficient than average products in the category
- Realize water savings on a national level
- Provide measurable results
- Achieve water efficiency through several technology options
- Be effectively differentiated by the WaterSense label
- Be independently certified
Most of the plumbing products we use are in the bathroom and the kitchen. Most households also have plumbing for a washing machine, and some use water in radiant heating systems. For the majority of homeowners, though, the bathroom has the greatest concentration of plumbing fixtures, so this is where the WaterSense program was originally focused.
The first three product categories to be evaluated for improvement criteria were toilets, bathroom sink faucets, and showerheads. The requirements for high-efficiency toilets are established, while those for bathroom sink faucets and showerheads are forthcoming.
High-Efficiency Toilets
Toilets account for roughly 30 percent of residential indoor water consumption. According to WaterSense, inefficient toilets are responsible for most of the water wasted in American homes. That inefficiency can be the result of leaking, excessive water use by design, or both. For several years, federal law has required new toilets to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. The law does not apply to older toilets, though, which may still use much more.
From 1980 to 1994, the law required toilets to use no more than 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf). In 1994, that was reduced to 1.6 gpf for two reasons: the need to reduce water consumption in order to sustain our supply was becoming clear, and most manufacturers had found ways to make toilets that worked correctly using less than half the water that older models consumed. Before 1980, little attention was paid to water consumption by toilets, and some models used as much as 5 gpf. Replacing one of these would bring immediate and substantial savings.
Leaking is also a serious problem because it can be difficult to detect. Like the slow drip from a faucet, a leaking toilet can consume hundreds of gallons of water every year, adding to your water bill and reducing the available supply. However, a leaking toilet is easy to fix with inexpensive replacement parts, which you can find at any hardware store or building supply center.
The best way to solve both problems is to install a newer toilet, particularly one that meets WaterSense requirements. These highefficiency toilets go beyond the expectations of current laws. Instead of using a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush, they are limited to 1.3 gallons. That’s less than a 20 percent improvement in water consumption—but just like leaks, those small amounts add up quickly. The WaterSense program estimates that replacing older, less efficient toilets with HETs would reduce our national water consumption by 2 billion gallons per day. The agency puts it in dramatic terms: “If every home in the United States replaced one old toilet with a new HET, we would save more than 900 billion gallons of water per year, equal to more than two weeks of flow over Niagara Falls!”
The benefits for each household are significant over time, too. The WaterSense program calculates that if you install a certified HET, you can save 4000 gallons per year. Based on an estimate of 140,000 flushes in an average lifetime, each of your children can save as much as 300,000 gallons using an HET installed now.
Translating gallons into dollars, the savings are easier to understand. A family of four that replaces a 3.5 gpf toilet with a certified HET can save more than $90 a year on water bills, and $2000 over the lifetime of the toilet. This means a new WaterSense labeled HET can pay for itself in only a few years—sooner if the local water utility offers incentives for replacing older toilets with HETs.
Of course, a toilet that uses less water will only seem like an improvement if it works as well as an older model that uses more water. That has been one of the requirements of the WaterSense program. Besides, manufacturers know that if the first hundred HETs don’t perform well, they won’t sell the second hundred. Many HETs have proven better than standard toilets in consumer testing.
Bathroom Sink Faucets
In the United States, more than a trillion gallons of water are consumed through faucets each year. That represents more than 15 percent of indoor household water use. Current laws require faucets to consume no more than 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm), but older faucets may flow at rates anywhere from 3 to 7 gpm. High-efficiency bathroom sink faucets and accessories, such as aerators, can help reduce consumption by 30 percent or more.
Bathroom sink faucets that earn WaterSense certification are required to perform as well as the high-flow models they replace— even in houses with lower water pressures—but use no more than 1.5 gpm. By installing at least one WaterSense certified faucet or aerator in each household in the country, we could reduce our annual national water consumption by more than 60 billion gallons.
Showerheads
About 17 percent of residential indoor water use goes to showering, which adds up to more than 1.2 trillion gallons of water consumed each year. WaterSense has issued a notification of intent (NOI) to develop a specification for high-efficiency showerheads. The NOI outlines water efficiency and performance criteria for showerheads, and the standards to be created will involve input from industry and water-efficiency experts.
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