News Releases from Region 09
U.S. EPA recognizes five WaterSense award winners in California and Nevada for 2016
Regional winners among 20 groups honored nationwide
SAN FRANCISCO — Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored KB Home, Energy Inspectors Corporation, the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership, High Sierra Showerheads, and the Regional Water Authority in Sacramento for their commitment to protecting the environment through water efficiency.
Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, EPA’s WaterSense program has worked to protect the future of the nation's water supply by offering a simple way to use less water and energy with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. EPA’s WaterSense partners have helped save more than 1.5 trillion gallons of water and almost $33 billion in water and energy bills since the program began in 2006.
“For the past 10 years, EPA’s WaterSense partners have shown that water and energy efficiency can go hand in hand with cost savings, without compromising performance,” said Tomás Torres, EPA’s Water Division Director for the Pacific Southwest. “This year’s winners are going above and beyond to help conserve our precious water resources during a time of severe and prolonged drought in the West.”
The 2016 WaterSense award winners in EPA’s Pacific Southwest region are as follows:
KB Home, headquartered in Los Angeles, was recognized with its second consecutive Sustained Excellence Award. The company built 233 WaterSense-labeled homes in 2015, an increase of 142 percent compared to 2014. The company is planning four KB Home communities in California in which all homes will meet the WaterSense-labeled specification. Additional efforts included using WaterSense-labeled products in more than 8,000 homes.
Energy Inspectors Corporation, located in Las Vegas, Nevada, was recognized as the Licensed Certification Provider Partner of the Year for the fourth time. The company certified 233 homes for KB Home to meet the WaterSense-labeled homes specification, more than double the number of homes it certified in 2014. Additional efforts in 2015 included training an inspector to perform WaterSense specification inspections, totaling 12 trained inspectors to date.
The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership was recognized for the third time as the Professional Certifying Organization Partner of the Year. Efforts included continuing to expand the reach of the partnership’s WaterSense-labeled Qualified Water Efficient Landscape certification program. In 2015, the partnership worked with six new organizations to adopt the Qualified Water Efficient Landscape program and helped more than 65 irrigation professionals earn certification. The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership also received recognition for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products.
High Sierra Showerheads, located in Coarsegold, earned its Excellence Award for Strategic Collaboration by successfully partnering with state and local agencies to promote water-efficient technology. Highlights of High Sierra’s efforts included working with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to identify a WaterSense-labeled tamper-proof showerhead suitable for the requirements of prisons and correctional facilities. The department worked to retrofit more than 6,000 showerheads in facilities to save an estimated 385 million gallons annually.
The Regional Water Authority, based in Sacramento, was recognized for Excellence in Education and Outreach. Their efforts included sponsoring a “Be Water Smart” contest for preschool through fifth-grade students. The contest poster was published as a full-page, double-sided Sacramento Bee advertisement during Fix a Leak Week 2015, accompanied by an infographic with practical water-saving tips.
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. Since then, the number of labeled models has grown to more than 16,000, including products for 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 new homes have earned the WaterSense label.
Ellen Gilinsky, Associate Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water, announced the 2016 award winners today at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 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, programs, and homes.
Learn more about the WaterSense awards, including more information about the award winners in California and Nevada, at www.epa.gov/watersense.
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