“Water Smart” New Homes Make WaterSense

Thanks to a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s now easier for home buyers to discern which new homes offer the best in water-conservation infrastructure and technology.

The program, called WaterSense, has been around since 2006, but is just now picking up in popularity with both buyers and new home builders. WaterSense involves retailers, manufacturers, government bodies, builders and landscapers in the push for instituting water conservation and use-reduction in new and existing homes and businesses. Working much like the EnergyStar labeling system, the WaterSense label is affixed to products that meet stringent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for the reduction of water usage in the typical home and work environment.

To be certified as WaterSense, products such as shower heads, toilets and kitchen or bathroom faucets are tested by a third-party organization which ensures that the product meets the EPA criterion for water efficiency. Beyond just products, the program has also outlined criteria for single-family home WaterSense certification, with a goal of reducing water usage by 20 percent, when compared to a standard new home.

Requirements for new homes to obtain the WaterSense label include:

• All WaterSense-labelled toilets, faucets and showerheads

• Having no leaks present in any water or piping system

• EnergyStar appliances in the kitchen and laundry room

• Tankless, instant or hybrid water-heaters

• Limited turf-grass, OR:

• Low-moisture landscaping, with mulching

For new home builders constructing throughout the SunBelt states, the idea of incorporating water conservation into their homes seems to be a no-brainer. Indeed, some of the WaterSense program’s largest partners (Lennar, Meritage, and KB Home) have begun incorporating the program into their new homes.

KB Home, one of the most active in the program, has constructed each one of the homes in their new Springwood community (Roseville, CA) to meet the WaterSense criteria, and hopes to have every home in the community certified by the EPA for adherence, which would make it the first WaterSense community in the nation.

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