Since the program began in 2006, WaterSense labeled products have helped save Americans $4.7 billion in water and energy bills and 287 billion gallons of water–but it takes more than just a label to achieve that kind of success. Thousands of WaterSense partners help EPA spread the water efficiency message and grow the number of WaterSense labeled products, programs, and new homes. Several partners in particular stand out for their cooperation and support for the program.
“This year’s drought highlighted the importance that water plays in our lives. All of our partners are champions who share our mission to protect the future of our nation’s water supply,” says Veronica Blette, program manager for WaterSense. “But the 2012 Partners of the Year represent some truly exceptional contributions to water sustainability and the American economy.”
WaterSense recognizes a select group of partners each year that helped advance the WaterSense mission by demonstrating excellence in water
efficiency leadership and increasing awareness about WaterSense in measurable ways. On October 4, EPA announced the 2012 WaterSense Partners of the Year at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, NV.
Promotional Partner of the Year
Colorado Springs Utilities. Colorado Springs Utilities, which serves 450,000 people at the base of Pike’s Peak, collaborated with a number of other WaterSense partners to take water efficiency to new heights in 2011. Working with local builder Wayne Intermill, licensed certification provider Energy Logic Inc., and 2008 WaterSense Retailer Partner of the Year Ferguson Enterprises, Colorado Springs Utilities helped bring about the first new home in Colorado to earn the WaterSense label.
Colorado Springs Utilities supported the construction project from start to finish, from introducing Intermill to the WaterSense new homes program at a meeting of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), to coordinating with the suppliers and certification provider to ensure the home would meet EPA’s criteria. The home was also the first to receive a trifecta of green home labels: WaterSense, ENERGY STAR, and the USGBC’s LEED for Homes certification. Intermill, meanwhile, continues to build new homes to meet WaterSense criteria.
To promote water efficiency in the commercial sector, Colorado Springs Utilities encouraged hundreds of commercial kitchens to test free, high-efficiency pre-rinse spray valves in their kitchens. The utility demonstrated the nozzles onsite with owners and managers and offered advice on additional water-saving upgrades. Facilities saved more than 20 million gallons of water in 2011, thanks to the commercial retrofit program–one-third of the utility’s annual water savings goal. In addition to helping local businesses use less water, the utility gathered valuable input that has been used to help inform the development of a WaterSense specification for pre-rinse spray valves.
“WaterSense gives Colorado Springs Utilities valuable consumer and business-ready tools to have a conservation conversation,” says Frank Kinder, senior water conservation specialist. “Its products and programs provide simple, visible ways to educate and inspire customers to improve their efficiency in retrofits and new construction, and our community benefits through better use of our limited resources. WaterSense makes conservation easier, more profitable, and helps everyone win.”
Colorado Springs Utilities has also used social media as a cost-effective way to engage the community in water efficiency. As part of its YOUtilities YouTube video contest, residents and businesses were asked to document the ways in which they save water and energy, producing a number of entertaining and informational videos and turning customers into peer conservation advocates.
Builder Partner of the Year
KB Home. Earning the Builder Partner of the Year distinction for the second year in a row, KB Home helped make WaterSense labeled new homes the new standard of curb appeal in three different states in 2011. The builder earned the WaterSense label on nearly 200 new homes in five communities in northern California, Central Texas, and Central Florida. Two of those homes, located in Austin and San Antonio, TX, were modeled after the KB Home GreenHouse concept home the company created with national design guru Martha Stewart. They now demonstrate the KB Home ZeroHouse model, a WaterSense labeled, net-zero energy use custom home available as an option to all KB Home customers.
“With increased stress on our nation’s water supply, we feel it is vitally important for the homes we build to help our homeowners use less water,” says KB Home Senior Vice President Dan Bridleman.
KB Home’s representatives also promote the value of water efficiency. Employees must pass a certification test on the features and benefits of WaterSense labeled products and new homes. Additional training is provided for sales counselors and studio staff to teach them how to communicate to homebuyers the benefits of installing water-smart landscaping, WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers, and hot water recirculation systems.
In addition to talking the outdoor talk, KB Home is walking the walk by incorporating water efficient landscape design into its customers’ menu of home options. The company worked extensively with Hunter Industries to develop a weather-based irrigation system option to homebuyers making their custom selections at the KB Home Studio.
Manufacturer Partners of the Year
This year, WaterSense recognized two manufacturers that have not only advanced technology for water efficient products, but also helped promote
WaterSense labeled products with smart and creative consumer outreach efforts across the country.
American Standard Brands. In 2011, American Standard Brands introduced the SAVER toilet, a WaterSense labeled “no tools” toilet with hassle-free installation. The company designed the toilet so that even a home improvement novice can install it using an illustrated step-by-step guide and simple hand tightening. According to American Standard Brands, such innovations are part of the company’s mission.
“Product innovations, technical leadership, and outstanding performance [have] been part of our company’s heritage for over 140 years,” says American Standard Brands President and Chief Executive Officer Jay Gould. “We aim to raise the industry standard in developing water-saving solutions that resolve everyday problems while exceeding the performance needs of our customers.”
From March to November 2011, the American Standard Brands Responsible Bathroom Tour offered hands-on product demonstrations of WaterSense labeled toilets, faucets, and showerheads at more than 100 plumbing wholesale supply firms across America. The company teamed up with 13 local utilities to promote local product rebate programs along the way. Consumers who missed the company’s bathroom-on-wheels exhibit could download a free Responsible Bathroom smart phone application to calculate the cost savings of different water-saving plumbing products and behaviors.
In Georgia, American Standard Brands teamed up with two-time WaterSense Promotional Partner of the Year Cobb County Water System and Georgia’s first Licensed Green Plumber to host a two-hour “Go Green and Save Green” workshop to mark WaterSense’s 2011 Fix a Leak Week. The collaborative efforts educated homeowners on how to check for leaks, while promoting WaterSense labeled products and water-smart behaviors. American Standard Brands also partnered with the Green Education Foundation to create a new K–12 curriculum covering sustainable building, ecology, and environmental science.
Kohler Co. Kohler Co., a three-time WaterSense Manufacturer Partner of the Year and two-time Excellence Award winner, introduced its most water efficient dual-flush toilet to date, just one of 40 new WaterSense labeled toilet models the company introduced in 2011. What’s more, WaterSense labeled models constituted nearly 100% of the company’s urinal and bathroom faucet fixtures offerings, while the number of its WaterSense labeled showerhead models more than doubled last year.
“In 2011, Kohler Co. continued to incorporate new water efficient technology into a broader cross section of our plumbing products,” says Rob Zimmerman, Kohler’s manager of engineering, water conservation. “This is part of our multi-year strategy to reduce the water used by our products, while still delivering the performance and experience consumers expect.”
Kohler also participated in an effort to convince consumers that wasting water is just, well, weird. The manufacturer joined with fellow WaterSense Partner of the Year Lowe’s Companies Inc. and several other organizations to support the “Wasting Water is Weird” public service announcement campaign. The video PSAs featured “Rip the Drip,” an awkward character who randomly appeared in people’s homes when they wasted water, in order to remind them just how weird it is. The campaign struck a humorous chord with viewers across various media platforms, and it continues today online through @RiptheDrip’s personal Twitter page and the Wasting Water is Weird website.
Kohler’s collaborations with water utilities and other organizations also helped get more WaterSense labeled products in homes in 2011. Working with Habitat for Humanity International, the company helped equip 550 Habitat homes in California and Texas with WaterSense labeled toilets, faucets, and showerheads. Kohler also worked with 2011 WaterSense Retailer Partner of the Year The Home Depot to launch an in-store tool that identifies products eligible to earn points in the USGBC’s LEED for Homes program and to reach out to drought-ridden Texans through water efficient product displays in stores.
Retailer Partner of the Year
Lowe’s Companies Inc. Receiving the Retailer Partner of the Year award for the third time in four years, Lowe’s helped consumers save about 4 billion gallons of water in 2011. And while Lowe’s CEO, Robert A. Niblock, credits WaterSense with helping the company succeed in today’s evolving water efficient products market, its collaborations with EPA and other WaterSense partners have helped bring millions of WaterSense labeled products to consumers.
The major retailer joined forces with this year’s Excellence Award Winner, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA), to fund store gift cards for the winners of the AMWUA’s We’re for Water race during Fix a Leak Week 2011. And Lowe’s participated with Kohler Co. in reminding consumers why “wasting water is weird.”
Inside its stores, Lowe’s collaborated with several WaterSense utility partners for in-store events that advertised rebates on WaterSense labeled products. The company’s Efficient Home marketing campaign educated customers about WaterSense labeled products on store shelves and communicated the “save energy, save water, save money” message through Lowe’s staff.
“In the wake of the worst drought in 50 years, the WaterSense program has become more relevant and important,” says Michael Chenard, Lowe’s director of corporate sustainability. “WaterSense offers an opportunity for consumers to reduce the amount of water they use without compromising comfort and product effectiveness.”
WaterSense congratulates all the 2012 Partner of the Year and Excellence Awards winners. WaterSense partners, such as these leaders, are champions for water-saving products, new homes, and services across the country this year and into the future. For more information about the WaterSense Partners of the Year, and to learn about becoming a partner, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.Alliance for Water Efficiency. In 2011, Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) spread the word about WaterSense labeled products at more than 150 speaking engagements and events across America. Additionally, AWE offered EPA stakeholders a venue to discuss WaterSense specifications at its meetings over the course of the year.
American Water. American Water launched its national Save Water Today campaign to educate consumers on the importance of protecting water resources from the source to the tap. Four video PSAs featuring different celebrities were broadcast on television stations across the country.
Arizona Municipal Water Users Association. Arizona Municipal Water Users Association hosted a 4-mile “We’re for Water” running race in honor of Fix a Leak Week 2011. Adding some fun and media coverage to the event were a running toilet mascot named Leaky Loo McFlapper and a television interview at one of the most water efficient homes in Phoenix, AZ.
New Mexico Office of the State Engineer. In honor of Fix a Leak Week 2011, a traveling New Mexico Office of the State Engineer booth, equipped with hands-on product demonstrations and testing, visited six different events with WaterSense partners across New Mexico to educate consumers on how to find and fix leaks around the home.
The Home Depot. More than 300,000 associates representing the home improvement store chain received training on the water savings and performance benefits of WaterSense labeled products. Through these educational tools, associates were equipped to communicate the value of the WaterSense label to customers nationwide.