look for
Defeating Water Waste
2019 Sustained Excellence and
Partner of the Year Awards
WaterSense and its more than 2,000 utility, manufacturer, retail, builder, and
other organizational partners provide consumers and businesses with water-
efficient products, homes, and programs to help them defeat water waste. Since
2006, WaterSense partners have helped save 3.4 trillion gallons of water. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to recognize nine Sustained
Excellence and three Partner of the Year Award winners for helping to advance
specific aspects of the WaterSense program in 2018 and contributing to an annual
savings of 725 billion gallons of water!
h
Public Utilities
water, wastewater, conservation.
SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE
Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department
Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Public Utilities Department achieved Sustained Excellence
in 2018 for the third year in a row by creatively educating both consumers and commercial
entities about saving water. Starting with Fix a Leak Week in March, ACC enlisted an
"edutainer" to visit four schools and present to 1,115 students and 83 adults who used
magic and humor to teach water conservation, even juggling "leeks" to encourage
finding and fixing leaks. The utility gave additional leak presentations to 395 people and
distributed information on WaterSense labeled toilets. Next, the annual Athens Water
Festival featured Flo, the WaterSense "spokesgallon," in its Water Avenger theme.
Participants completed educational activities to collect "infinite stones" that spelled out "WATER;" once they did,
the 1,000 participants received a refrigerator magnet stone featuring the WaterSense logo!
ACC's commercial conservation program, Certified Blue, supplied 37 businesses with
WaterSense labeled toilets, faucet aerators, and pre-rinse spray valves as needed in
2018. The utility participated in a restaurant panel at the 2018 WaterSmart Innovations
Conference and discussed the logistics of implementing a restaurant conservation
program and commercial water-saving best management practices. ACC also continued
its partnership with the Water Research Foundation to determine water-use metrics in
different commercial building types.
In other outreach efforts, the utility shared information on Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler
Spruce-Up, and the Imagine a Day Without Water campaign with local listeners during
several interviews on National Public Radio station WUGA. To promote outdoor water
savings, ACC collaborated with other WaterSense partners on the monthly Twitter
#LandscapeChat that resulted in 13,600 impressions. ACC worked with the local Department of Motor Vehicles
to show water conservation educational videos to a captive audience of 82,500 viewers. Finally, ACC continued
its successful Little Lily Pad Hop Project in 33 classrooms, reaching 1,331 students' families by sending home the
Little Lily character with care packages full of WaterSense and water-saving materials.
An "edutainer," posing with
WaterSense spokesgallon, Flo.
PHONE (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) WEBSITE www.epa.gov/watersense EMAIL watersense@epa.gov
SEFA
EPA-832-F-19-016
October 2019

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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
City of Charlottesville (Virginia)
SlNIA
For the fifth year in a row, the City of Charlottesville is being recognized by WaterSense
for inspiring its community to save water; this year its Water Conservation Program (WCP)
earned its second Sustained Excellence Award. One of many incentives the City promoted
to encourage water savings was Virginia's statewide tax-free weekend for WaterSense
labeled products in August 2018. The WCP also participated in Charlottesville's first-ever
Employee Bazaar, where municipal employees learned about water conservation, the City's
WaterSense labeled product rebates, and free fixtures.
The Charlottesville WCP distributed 433 water conservation kits to
residents with WaterSense labeled showerheads, faucet aerators,
and toilet rebate information to residents. It organized the Sixth
Annual Fix a Leak Week Family 5K race. Using the WaterSense
"bath hack" videos and Your Better Bathroom campaign for
inspiration, the City created its own videos to show residents how
to improve their bathrooms using WaterSense labeled products.
To encourage outdoor water savings, the Charlottesville WCP
bought advertising space to appear on Weather.com in response to
current or forecasted weather conditions in local zip codes, helping
consumers in the area avoid wasting water when irrigating their
landscapes. Over the summer, the advertisements received more
than 287,000 impressions and 1,000 clicks!
"Participation in the EPA WaterSense
program continues to support the
expansion and enhancement of our
water conservation programs. Easy
access to its messaging tools has
been extremely helpful with our public
education and outreach efforts."
Paul Oberdorfer, Interim Deputy
City Manager of Operations, City of
Charlottesville
Given its proximity to the University of Virginia (UVA), the Charlottesville WCP collaborated with the campus'
Sustainability Office on community events and water conservation outreach to students. At the University's Earth
Week Expo, the WCP had students try to install their own WaterSense labeled faucet aerator on its demonstration
faucet. To save water in a complex of apartments rented by UVA students, WCP rebated 45 WaterSense labeled
toilets and provided the management with fixtures to replace all the showerheads and faucet aerators with
WaterSense labeled models. It is estimated that this retrofit and the WaterSense labeled toilet rebates issued in
2018 will save more than 60 million gallons of water per year!
Citrus County (Florida) Utilities
After achieving Partner of the Year three years in a row, Citrus County Utilities earned a
Sustained Excellence Award for 2018. The County held two Irrigation 101 workshops for
78 homeowners that had never had an irrigation system before. The workshop highlighted
WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and proper programming. Pre- and post-surveys
determined that attendee knowledge about irrigation controllers increased from 69 percent
to 98 percent. Similarly, Citrus County gave a 101 presentation about the benefits of
WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers at a new homeowner event in the Terra Vista
Community and distributed rebate applications, 48 WaterSense labeled faucet aerators, and
17 showerheads.
Citrus County Utilities' Schedule a Specialist (SAS) customer assistance program provided 277 residential
irrigation system walk-throughs in 2018. The county has calculated that SAS participants from the previous year
achieved a 25 percent decrease in water use in 2018—more than 19 million gallons! Citrus County also offered
free irrigation evaluations in collaboration with Southwest Florida Water Management District and Wthlacoochee
Regional Water Supply Authority. Personalized invitations were mailed to customers that averaged more than
24,000 gallons annually, and the utility completed 32 evaluations in 2018.
To broaden its reach, Citrus County promoted water conservation and WaterSense labeled products in its own
newsletter, the Citrus County Chronicle newspaper, Greenbeit Gazette, and the Citrus County Chronicle home
show. For Fix a Leak Week, the utility hosted its annual water conservation expo, where it distributed 57 faucet
aerators and 34 showerheads to 76 attendees. Additionally, Citrus County distributed 865 "Get a Handle on
Leaks" cards and toilet leak tablets and during Fix a Leak Week sent a mailing to 594 residents whose 24-hour
water meter readings indicated possible leaks.
aUTY. FIOr,b
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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
Cobb County (Georgia) Water System
Third time's a charm for Cobb County (Georgia) Water System, which won its third Sustained
Excellence Award—and eighth award overall—for its continued commitment to promoting
WaterSense and water efficiency. In 2018, Cobb County added a commercial toilet incentive
and issued rebates for more than 1,000 toilets. Additionally, the County issued over 1,500
residential toilet rebates and distributed 300 WaterSense labeled showerheads, 400 faucet
aerators, and 150 indoor water conservation kits throughout the year.
To expand its water conservation outreach, Cobb County created a new
YouTube series, "Tappy Turtle Productions," which promotes WaterSense
campaigns in short videos inspired by famous movies and pop culture. One of
the more popular videos, "Your Worst Bathroom Nightmares!" is a 30-second
public service announcement (PSA) parodying the classic movie Psycho,
featuring an inefficient showerhead being replaced with a WaterSense labeled
model. This video reached more than 2,000 people via Facebook promotion.
Each video included ads promoting WaterSense labeled products to viewers.
Cobb County Water System upped its social media outreach game with
"Turtle Tip Tuesday," "Whadda You Know about H20 Wednesday," and "Fun
Fact Friday," which received 137,401 impressions on Twitter alone. The utility also attended many community
events to reach more than 77,000 residents with WaterSense messaging. And Cobb County continued with its
impressive school outreach in 2018 by providing water conservation programming to more than 7,000 preschool
through high school students.
Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District
The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District completed another great year of
water conservation outreach to capture its second Sustained Excellence Award. The District
expanded its outreach through the My Drop Counts campaign by including a business
pledge asking building owners and tenants to take specific steps to reduce water use; 12
businesses took the new pledge in 2018. To promote outdoor water efficiency, the District
promoted a tongue-in-cheek "Society of Intentionally Dry Lawns" as part of a campaign
to encourage significant reduction or elimination of outdoor water use and served as a
presenting sponsor for the Chattahoochee Nature Center's Native Plant Sale,
In September 2018, Metro Georgia Water District participated in DragonCon to promote WaterSense and water
conservation messaging. The District handed out children's activity books featuring WaterSense and wrote
water-saving messages on hidden rocks for participants to find during the
event. To help promote the imagine a Day Without Water campaign, the
District collaborated with Caribou Coffee to offer discounts for customers who
answered the question, "What would you miss if there were no water today?"
As part of its collaboration efforts, Metro Georgia Water District once again
coordinated with utilities to host the Water Drop Dash 5k and Water Festival
in honor of Fix a Leak Week 2018. With 11 participating utilities and over 800
registered participants in 2018, the grand total has climbed to 3,600 runners
over the past six years who have learned about the importance of finding and
fixing household leaks. And to promote its WaterSense labeled toilet rebate
throughout the year, the District collaborated with The Home Depot to develop
materials that highlighted WaterSense labeled toilets available at stores in the
region. Between 2008 when the program began and 2018, more than 135,000
old, inefficient toilets were replaced through the rebate program!
Screenshot of "Your Worst Bathroom
Nightmares!" PSA promoting
WaterSense labeled showerheads.
"We are honored to be
recognized for our outreach
work with the WaterSense
program. In recent years,
metro Atlanta's population
has grown by leaps and
bounds, and yet our water
use has declined, thanks in
large part to this program."
Charlotte Nash, Chairman
of the Metro Water District
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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
American Standard, Part of LIXIL
For the second year in a row, American Standard, part of LIXIL Americas, has won
a WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award, in part for its Beauty in Motion Tour, a
"showroom on wheels" that displays several of the company's innovative WaterSense
labeled products. Making 101 stops that resulted in over two million impressions, the
Beauty in Motion Tour achieved a 91 percent increase in consumer exposure over
the previous year. American Standard also added several new WaterSense labeled
toilets and faucets to its line of labeled products that are sold in 11,000 stores across
the United States, making water savings accessible to consumers.
Another innovative tool to help support water efficiency is the brand's
water-saving calculator found on the American Standard website, which
features WaterSense labeled products. In just six months, the website has
received more than 700 unique visitors and approximately 950 page views.
The company has also published several articles highlighting WaterSense.
These articles have garnered over 300 million impressions in newspaper
real estate sections and other publications.
American Standard's devoted special projects team comprised of 24
participants is dedicated to promoting WaterSense to designers and
other key players in the project chain. The company also maintains a
training team of eight dedicated professionals who educate customers on WaterSense and the importance of
water efficiency. To further promote the importance of saving water beyond its own fixtures, American Standard
participated in the 2018 Fix a Leak Week Twitter party and shared its knowledge on finding and fixing leaks
through its social media channels.
PART OF 11XI L
American Standard's "showroom on
wheels" features many of its WaterSense
labeled products.
Delta Faucet Company
A DE LTA
Delta Faucet Company achieved its fifth Sustained Excellence Award,
continuing its commitment to producing and promoting water-saving
technologies and products. In 2018, all the company's toilet models were
considered high-efficiency, and about two-thirds of showering products
had earned the WaterSense label. Delta Faucet also assisted WaterSense with revisions to its showerhead
specification by proposing test methods for "raincan" showerheads that spray straight down.
In 2018, Delta Faucet announced its partnership with the
Center for Advancement of Science in Space in collaboration
with the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory
to study the formation of water droplets, water flow, and
pressure in microgravity to enhance the showering experience
while maintaining sustainability. In support of promoting
the company's WaterSense labeled products, Delta Faucet
participated in quarterly strategy meetings with Lowe's
Home Improvement and The Home Depot to collaborate on
implementation of Delta Faucet products, including WaterSense
labeled models.
"Delta Faucet Company strives to
produce and promote innovative kitchen
and bath products that help conserve
water without sacrificing performance.
With that goal in mind, we are honored
to receive the WaterSense Sustained
Excellence Award for the fifth consecutive
year as it demonstrates our steadfast
commitment to not only improving water
efficiency, but also educating consumers
and trade professionals on the benefits of
the WaterSense program."
With an impressive commitment to education, the company
conducted six different Continuing Education Unit courses
for more than 3,400 trade professionals and 36 e-learning
courses for employees, sales representatives and customers,
referencing WaterSense labeled products. For the second
year in a row, the company hosted more than 800 showroom
associates and other industry professionals in a hotel that has Delta WaterSense labeled H20kinetic®
showerheads installed, so guests could experience a high-performing showerhead that conserves water. At an
event that invited design bloggers to its Indianapolis headquarters, the company showcased innovative water-
Ken Roberts,
Delta Faucet Company President
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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
efficient products from the Delta and Brizo brands, leveraging the influence of high-reaching tastemakers in the
design space to increase the overall awareness of WaterSense. Influences received a WaterSense labeled
showerhead and shared the event experience with their followers on their respective social channels.
Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership
q^J\A -/, Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership (SMSWP), a three-time Sustained Excellence
Award winner, continues to make Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) certification
"Z- accessible to a wider audience by offering a program that other communities and
SAVING WATER organizations can adopt to certify professionals in their area. SMSWP works closely with
Q. adopting organizations to ensure success; in 2018, six new organizations adopted the
QWEL program. By the end of the year, SMSWP had issued 40 new QWEL certifications;
' A/E^	together with its partners, they had issued more than 300!
In October 2018, at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference, SMSWP provided
a one-day train-the-trainer class as a pre-show workshop, allowing new certifying
organizations the opportunity to learn more about WaterSense and the QWEL
program. The Partnership also promoted WaterSense labeled products and
campaigns in its new QWEL Quarterly newsletter. Additional outreach included
social media posts, events geared toward landscape professionals, and the
QWEL website, which provides a variety of materials on WaterSense labeled
weather-based irrigation controllers and spray sprinkler bodies.
Awel
QUALIFIED WATER EFFICIENT LANDSCAPER
To educate landscape professionals about the WaterSense program and QWEL certification, SMSWP hosted
an informational booth at the California Irrigation Institute Conference and participated in a panel, "Advancing
Landscape Training in the Post Drought Era." To further engage landscape professionals, the Partnership
attended the Northern California Landscape and Nursery Show. SMSWP also provided a one-day workshop at the
Localizing California Waters Conference in Yosemite, California, highlighting WaterSense to the 11 participants
from the Sierra Watershed Progressive who focus on rainwater and graywater-related installations.
KB Home
kb
HOME
Builder partner KB Home continued its tradition of leadership in water savings, winning its
fifth Sustained Excellence Award and ninth WaterSense Award overall. In 2018, the builder
completed 134 homes that earned the WaterSense label. Additionally, KB Home installed
WaterSense labeled fixtures in all of its homes built in 2018, not just the homes that earned
the WaterSense label. To date KB Home has built more than 2,000 homes that earned the
WaterSense label and has installed 600,000 WaterSense labeled fixtures! The builder's
employees receive staff training and certification on both WaterSense and KB Home
sustainability initiatives.
The BUILDER KB Home ProjeKt concept home that was built in
2018 and debuted at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show and
the International Builder Show earned the WaterSense label,
raising WaterSense awareness to the media, consumers, and
thousands of other builders. KB Home also spent much of 2018
collaborating with other stakeholders to propel water conservation
forward, including helping the Residential Energy Service Network
(RESNET) promote the new Home Energy Rating System H20
index for residential indoor and outdoor water usage. KB Home
also worked with Ceres on its Connect the Drops campaign,
which showcases the leadership of California companies to
advance resilient water solutions.
KB Home has played an integral role in the stakeholder
engagement process as WaterSense has worked to revamp its
Homes Program and revise its new home specification. This
"KB Home is honored to be recognized
for our leadership having been the
first national builder to adopt the
WaterSense efficiency standard and to
build WaterSense labeled new homes.
The WaterSense program plays a
significant role in advancing water
saving technologies and building a new
future, one that is sustainable for the
environment and improves the quality of
life for our customers."
Dan Bridleman,
Senior Vice President, KB Home
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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
revision aims to streamline the WaterSense labeling process and requirements for single-family and misltifamily
homes to increase the number of water-efficient homes available on the market.
PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS OF THE YEAR
The Broward (Florida) Water Partnership

Conservation Pays
Through creative campaigns and outreach, The Broward Water Partnership in
Florida has earned it second Promotional Partner of the Year Award. In 2018,
the Partnership created three new animated mascots to promote WaterSense
and saving water and produced videos featuring each mascot in both English
and Spanish. Two of the characters, Steph and Steve the Plumbers, were a
big hit on social media, with nearly 48,000 Facebook views and over 100,000
views on Twitter. For the third character, meant to promote pre-rinse spray valves, the Partnership created a
contest for residents to name the mascot. With over 200 entries, the top three entries won prizes donated by local
businesses, and "Prince Pre-Rinse" was crowned the winner!
In addition to mascots, the Partnership ran three other campaigns on social media to
promote water conservation and WaterSense labeled products. The Royal Flush, Flush
with Success, and Word Scramble campaigns were designed to boost interest and
participation in its WaterSense labeled toilet rebate program. A total of 2,655 rebates were
issued for WaterSense labeled toilets, and over 2,700 WaterSense labeled showerheads
and aerators were distributed in 2018.
To further promote its WaterSense labeled toilet rebate, Broward continued its rebate
contest with 27 home improvement stores in the region. The store manager who was able
to move the most issued rebates received $1,000. Additionally, the Partnership provided
each store with custom displays that included floor banners, signage on toilets, and
window posters. To wrap up its efforts in 2018, the Broward Water Partnership started
developing a game, "Play Conservation Pays and Win!" The Partnership created the game
structure, quizzes, and graphics to promote its Conservation Pays program and launched
the game in February 2019.
GMnn
"Prince Pre-Rinse" won
the mascot naming
contest.
The City of Piano (Texas)
p Piano
The City of Piano earned its second Partner of the Year Award, as it continued to
inspire both residents and businesses to save water. The City began a new Water
Ambassador Program for several adult volunteers to promote leak detection, leak
City of Excellence repair, efficient irrigation, and landscaping principles. The City also has a Green
Business Certification Program; six small-to-medium businesses were certified in
2018, bringing the total to 43 overall.
The City of Piano increased its focus on outdoor outreach programs in 2018.
For Sprinkler Spruce-Up, the City offered a three-part class series covering
quick sprinkler fixes, do-it-yourself drip irrigation, and proper irrigation
controller use and taught sprinkler repair on a webinar for the Utah State
University Extension Service. In 2018, the City's innovative online learning
module, "Water, Water Everywhere: A Guide to Sprinkler Repair," was
accessed more than 6,000 times! The City of Piano continued to promote
water-smart landscape design and WaterSense labeled outdoor fixtures,
hosting its sixth annual WaterWise Landscape Tour.
Beyond its outdoor efforts, the City hosted the official kickoff event for the
Wyland National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation and took fourth
in the competition. It also collaborated on outreach for students competing in the FIRST LEGO League regional
championship, which focused on hydrodynamics to improve water efficiency and water quality. On the retail


City of Piano Water Ambassadors
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2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence and Partners of the Year Award Winners
side, the City worked with The Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement stores on promotions and provided
rebates for 1,058 WaterSense labeled toilets and 142 devices with rain/freeze sensing technology, many of those
WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers, in 2018. Flo, the WaterSense "spokesgallon," dropped by for the City's
Fix a Leak Week Workshop in March, when a plumbing expert from The Home Depot and several volunteers
taught 32 residents how to detect water leaks and make simple repairs.
Upper San Gabriel Valley (California) Municipal Water District
The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District has won its first
WaterSense Partner of the Year Award for its promotional efforts in 2018. The
Upper District collaborated with a number of different WaterSense partners
on events and programs and encouraged all 27 of its water purveyors to
become WaterSense partners. Throughout 2018, the Upper District hosted
nine workshops covering efficient landscaping, outdoor water use, and leak
detection and repair. In collaboration with Metropolitan Water District, City
of Monrovia, and California Landscape Contractors Association, it hosted a Model Water Efficient Landscape
Ordinance Workshop that drew nearly 100 attendees. For Fix a Leak Week, the Upper District hosted two leak
detection/repair workshops in English and Mandarin to expand its reach in the community.
The Upper District hosted its annual WaterFest event in 2018 and encouraged the 3,000 attendees to take a
selfie with the WaterSense promotional label. The Upper District promoted the SoCal Water$mart regional rebate
program, which provided commercial and residential rebates for the following WaterSense labeled devices:
premium high-efficiency toilets (65), flushing urinals (41), flushometer-valve toilets (485), and weather-based
irrigation controllers (226). The Upper District's Large Landscape
Survey and Retrofit program used professionals certified by the
WaterSense program to install 142 WaterSense labeled irrigation
controllers at 49 landscape sites.
In 2018, the Upper District's "Water is Life" contest encouraged
students to submit artwork that represented water as a valuable
resource. The contest received 170 entries from 25 different
schools. The Upper District also offered water education grants
of up to $1,000 for grades K-12 projects that facilitated a better
understanding of water as a vital resource. Seven applicants were
awarded a total of $7,128 in grants that reached nearly 1,000
students. The Upper District also provided a "Water Sustainability
and Water-Efficient Gardening" presentation for a community
garden group that featured WaterSense information.
UPPER SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
MUNICI PAL WATER DISTRICT
Learn More
WaterSense congratulates the 2019 Partners of the Year and Sustained Excellence Award winners. For more
information and to learn about all the benefits of partnership, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.
"Water conservation is an essential and
cost-effective method for the overall
sustainability of the San Gabriel Valley
water supply. At Upper District, we have
made this a critical component of our
overall mission and take an active part
in educating the public about water
use efficiency. We believe that being a
WaterSense partner has truly enhanced
our efforts to outreach to the communities
we serve."
Upper District Board President, Ed Chavez
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