EPA Recognizes WaterSense Partners of the Year for their Efforts in
Promoting Water Efficiency
October 23, 2013
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
recognizing its 2013 WaterSense Partners of the Year, including two
partners who received the first-ever WaterSense Sustained Excellence
awards in recognition of their continuous high level of support. The
Partner of the Year awards program recognizes the commitment of
WaterSense partners in promoting water efficiency to the American
public. The award winners’ efforts, along with those of more than 2,700
other WaterSense partners, have helped Americans save 487 billion
gallons of water and $8.9 billion in water and energy bills.
“All of our WaterSense partners have taken steps to reduce our nation’s
water use, but several stood out in 2012 for their commitment to the
WaterSense program and collaborative efforts to promote
WaterSense-labeled products, new homes and outreach and educational
programs,” said EPA’s acting Assistant Administrator for Water Nancy
Stoner. “We are pleased to honor these organizations which have
consistently supported our mission to protect the future of our nation’s
water supply.”
The following partners were formally recognized for their water-saving
efforts during the WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.,
at a special awards ceremony cosponsored by the Alliance for Water
Efficiency and Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Sustained Excellence Award Winners:
Kohler Co., a three-time WaterSense Manufacturer Partner of the Year and
two-time Excellence Award winner, continued to drive demand for
WaterSense-labeled products in 2012. Kohler crisscrossed the country to
promote its WaterSense-labeled products at industry shows in Orlando,
Chicago and San Francisco and even made a stop at Home Depot’s 2012
Earth Day Celebration in New York City’s Times Square to demonstrate the
flushing power of its WaterSense-labeled toilets.
Lowes, Inc., a three-time WaterSense Retailer Partner of the Year and
2011 Excellence Award winner, helped Americans become more
water-efficient in 2012 by increasing its online inventory of
WaterSense-labeled products, promoting bilingual WaterSense marketing
materials, and developing a smartphone application to help employees
find WaterSense-labeled product rebates for customers.
Partners of the Year:
Promotional Partner of the Year: Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public
Utilities Department piloted a commercial program to educate restaurant
owners on the benefits of WaterSense-labeled products and celebrated Fix
a Leak Week 2012 by holding workshops and installing WaterSense-labeled
fixtures in a community building that reduced its water use by 50
percent.
Large Manufacturer Partner of the Year: Delta Faucet Company conducted a
coast-to-coast collaborative effort with a variety of WaterSense
partners and stakeholders during Fix a Leak Week 2012. Delta installed
its WaterSense-labeled plumbing fixtures in 1,900 housing units in 10
cities across the country, resulting in more than 7 million gallons in
estimated annual water savings.
Small Manufacturer Partner of the Year: Niagara Conservation Corp.
partnered with local utilities and plumbers to develop Niagara Green
City, a program promoting water- and energy-efficient products, and
assembled plumbing kits with WaterSense-labeled products for local
utilities to distribute throughout their communities.
Retailer Partner of the Year: The Home Depot was recognized by EPA for
the second consecutive year for its efforts to promote WaterSense in all
of its U.S. stores, as well as online. The Home Depot’s “Eco Options”
website, featuring WaterSense-labeled products and water savings
calculators, garnered more than 2.5 million hits in 2012.
Builder Partner of the Year: KB Home, now a three-time WaterSense
Builder Partner of the Year, continued to break new ground in 2012 with
the construction of WaterSense-labeled new homes across the country. KB
Home continued to raise the bar by building its first ZeroHouse 2.0
model in the Washington, D.C., area to also earn the WaterSense label.
Professional Certifying Organization Partner of Year: The Irrigation
Association (IA) received its first WaterSense Partner of Year award in
the professional certifying organization category for encouraging
irrigators to become certified through its WaterSense-labeled programs,
introducing WaterSense-labeled irrigation controllers to thousands of
industry stakeholders, and assisting WaterSense in continued work toward
labeling soil moisture-based control technologies.
Irrigation Partner of Year: John Taylor, the president of Taylor
Irrigation Service, Inc., in Houston, Texas, and a certified irrigation
auditor, overhauled his company’s business model in 2012 to focus on
promoting water-smart landscaping and efficient irrigation practices,
including WaterSense-labeled irrigation controllers.
Six Excellence Awards were also given at the conference to partners for
their outstanding contributions in specific program areas:
• City of Boulder (Colo.) Department of Public Works/Utilities for
Excellence in Promoting WaterSense-labeled Products
• Colorado Springs (Colo.) Utilities for Excellence in Strategic
Collaboration
• Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, and Town of Sharon, Mass., for
Excellence in Education and Outreach
• Sonoma-Marin (Calif.) Saving Water Partnership for Excellence in
Promoting WaterSense and Water-Efficient Irrigation Practices
• Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver (Colo.) for Excellence in
Construction of Affordable WaterSense-labeled New Homes
Learn more about the 2013 Sustained Excellence Award winners, WaterSense
Partners of the Year, and Excellence Award winners at
www.epa.gov/watersense.
WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by EPA, seeks to protect the
future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to
use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services.
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