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EPA Honors Cascade Water Alliance (KING COUNTY) During WaterSense 2016 Partners-of-the-Year National Celebration (10/6/16)

WaterSense program marks a decade of saving water and energy

10/06/2016
Contact Information: 
Mark MacIntyre (macintyre.mark@epa.gov)
206-553-7302

(Seattle – October 6, 2016)  Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring 20 businesses, municipalities, utilities, and organizations for their commitment to protecting the environment through promoting water efficiency. Among those, The Cascade Water Alliance, based in Bellevue, Washington, is being hailed for “Excellence in Strategic Collaboration.”  The award recognizes Cascade Water Alliance (Cascade) for their work in creating partnerships and enlisting support from other groups, organizations and entities to spread the water conservation message across their service district in suburban King County.

EPA’s WaterSense partners have helped Americans save more than 1.5 trillion gallons of water and $32.6 billion in water and energy bills since the program began in 2006. Since its inception, WaterSense has also had a substantial Climate Change impact as well: Program officials estimate that WaterSense programs and projects have saved 212 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Winners were chosen from nearly 1,700 WaterSense partners, including utilities, local governments, manufacturers, retailers, distributors, builders, and other organizations who have partnered with EPA to produce and promote water-efficient products, projects and programs.

Cascade has consistently been recognized as a water conservation leader since becoming an EPA WaterSense Partner in 2007. This year Cascade is recognized for building a robust, multi-tiered calendar of water-saving projects, programs and new homes:

  • To encourage water-efficient practices in local schools, Cascade developed the Teacher Fellows Program, which recruits master teachers and enables them to develop water-based science and social studies curricula that have been adopted by local school districts.
  • To save water and promote WaterSense in the commercial sector, Cascade collaborated with SWB Consulting to install more than 600 labeled showerheads, aerators, and pre-rinse spray valves in schools, restaurants, and health clubs.
  • Cascade also worked with WaterSense promotional partner Puget Sound Energy (local energy utility) to offer residential rebates for 1,064 WaterSense labeled showerheads
  • Cascade developed a Water Conservation for Real Estate Professionals workshop, which provided training for 196 real estate appraisers and brokers about the value of water and how to achieve water efficiency in homes.

Cascade has also earned EPA WaterSense honors in previous years. They were named a “Promotional Partner-of-the-Year” in 2010 (https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/partners/winners_2010.html#Cascade) and were also partners in the construction of the nation’s first neighborhood of “WaterSense Certified” homes in Issaquah, Washington (https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/new_homes/zhome.html).

Since 2006, EPA’s WaterSense program has worked to protect the future of the nation's water supply by offering Americans a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. WaterSense labeled products, which are independently certified to use at least 20 percent less water and perform as well or better than standard models, have been on the market since 2007, when toilets first earned the label.

Since then, the number of labeled models has grown to more than 16,000, including products used in residential and commercial bathrooms, commercial kitchens, and outdoor irrigation. EPA’s WaterSense program certifies homes with WaterSense labeled fixtures and features. To date more than 700 homes have earned the WaterSense label.

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For more information about EPA’s WaterSense program:  https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/index.html

For more information about the Cascade Water Alliance: http://cascadewater.org/about_us.php