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2023 Partner of
the Year Awards

Look to WaterSense® Partners of the Year for Savings

WaterSense and its more than 2,100 utility, manufacturer, retail, builder, and other organizational
partners promote water-efficient products, homes, and programs to consumers and businesses across
the country. Over the past 17 years, WaterSense partners have helped Americans save 7.5 trillion gallons
of water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to recognize nine Partners of the Year
in particular for helping consumers and businesses save water in 2022.

PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS OF THE YEAR

Harris-Galveston (Texas) Subsidence District

The Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (HGSD) in Texas has won its
second Partner of the Year Award following another successful year of
consistently promoting WaterSense and water efficiency. Using the
WaterSense 2022 Editorial Calendar, HGSD spent the year sharing
valuable water conservation tips, tools, and resources through its
SmarterAboutWater.org website, blog, and social media channels,
garnering over 11,000 impressions. The blog had over 3,000 readers
and included several water efficiency themes, one of which educates
children using WaterSense's "Save Water at Home" coloring booklet.

In 2022, HGSD launched its new and improved school program,
called H20 Lab!, providing third through sixth grade students in
Harris, Galveston, and Fort Bend counties with water education and
a free, take-home water conservation kit containing a toilet flapper,
leak detection tablets, a toilet tank bag and fill cycle diverter, faucet
aerators, a sprinkler gauge, a 5-minute shower timer, and a water flow
rate bag. Each kit has the potential to save over 8,000 gallons of water
per year and was provided to nearly 25,000 students and teachers for
a combined estimated savings of over 215 million gallons of water per
year.

HGSD's water conservation grant program awarded $450,000 in matching funds spread across five
projects to local entities last year. These projects included developing advanced metering infrastructure
(AMI), implementing water loss control focusing on leak detection on main water lines, and replacing

HARRIS-GALVESTON

SUBSIDENCE
DISTRICT

"We are proud to be
recognized as a Partner of
the Year for the second year
in a row and collaborate with
the WaterSense program to
help provide education and
resources to make water
efficiency obtainable for all!"

Mike Turco, General Manager
of the Harris-Galveston
Subsidence District

Sonoma -Marin Saving Water Partnership pop-up event.

To learn more about WaterSense, visitwww.epa.gov/watersense.
(866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) \ watersense@epa.gov

oEPA

832-F-23-017
October 2023


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2023 WaterSense Partner of the Year Winners

showerhead fixtures using WaterSense labeled products, HGSD mentioned WaterSense resources and
promotions during several speaking engagements throughout the year to local water utilities, schools,
associations, forums, and even partnered with fellow WaterSense partner Houston Public Works during
their Water Works Festival.

g | |,J Q U S X O N Houston Public Works

|-|l public WORK® Houston Public Works (HPW) promoted water efficiency across its

service area and in other parts of Texas in 2022, winning its second
Partner of the Year Award, in partnership with WaterSense partners
in the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Round Rock, as well as Tarrant
Regional Water District, HPW organized a virtual Fix a Leak Week
workshop series with two half-day workshops—one indoors and one
outdoors. Nearly 750 participants registered for this event, and the
virtual trainings were watched an additional 242 times.

For commercial customers, in partnership with Imperial Utilities
and Sustainability Inc., HPW was able to provide one year of free
professional water, electricity, and gas utility assessments to nine
buildings. HPW also collaborated with 15 of its wholesale utilities
through the Wholesale Water Conservation Dashboard Program, which
allows utilities to analyze costs and quantify potential savings for over
70 water conservation activities.

In collaboration with 53 Houston community centers, churches,
hpw employees handing out water- temples, associations, health centers, and other organizations, HPW
saving information at a local event.	distributed water conservation tip cards that included WaterSense

information. HPW promoted water conservation to students and youth through their summer outreach
with scout camps, Houston Parks Department summer camps, and local STEM camps. HPW even hosted
a water conservation education and showerhead giveaway at a local brewery!

Rancho California Water District

Rancho California Water District in California ramped up promotion of
WaterSense and water conservation in 2022, earning its first Partner
of the Year award! To promote WaterSense labeled products inside
and outside the home, Rancho Water teamed with a Lowe's Home
Improvement store to create WaterSense outreach videos. One video,
Creating a WaterSense Garden with Wade, shows the District's mascot
choosing WaterSense labeled products for a water-efficient landscape. Creating a Water-Wise Home
with Lowe's highlights WaterSense labeled bathroom faucets, toilets, and showerheads available to
customers to upgrade their homes. The videos were shared on Rancho Water's social media platforms
and included in newsletters, e-blasts, and on the District's website.

©Rancho
Water

WORKING FOR OUR COMMUNITY

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2023 WaterSense Partner of the Year Winners

To address outdoor water waste and encourage landscape
transformations, the District created a new website, Temecula Murrieta
In Bloom, which shows hundreds of climate-appropriate plants that
thrive in the community's semi-arid climate while supportingthe
natural ecosystem. Users can save their plant and design preferences
and contact a local designer, contractor, or nursery listed on the site.
Customers are also directed to the District's rebates page to find
eligible WaterSense labeled irrigation products.

To encourage customers to transition from a traditional irrigation timer
to a WaterSense labeled weather-based model, Rancho Water provided
free irrigation controllers to attendees at multiple events. The District
collaborated with Rachio and the California Water Efficiency Program
(CalWEP), offering discounted Rachio controllers for eligible customers
and distributing over 200 devices.

Santa Clara Valley (California) Water District

Santa Clara Valley Water District in California (also known as Valley
Water) won its first WaterSense Partner of the Year Award, thanks
to its water-saving collaboration and outreach efforts. Valley Water
offers programs that promote WaterSense labeled products such as their Landscape Rebate Program,
Online Shopping Cart Program (eCart), and direct-install Fixture Replacement Program (Fix-RP). Valley
Water's eCart offers free, high-efficiency devices to Santa Clara County properties; in 2022 it facilitated
distribution of over 9,000 WaterSense labeled showerheads and other resources to help conserve water
indoors and outdoors.

Fix-RP replaces inefficient fixtures at qualifying multifamily residential, commercial, industrial, and
institutional properties at no cost. Through this program, Valley Water replaced over 2,800 toilets, 800
faucet aerators, and 1,300 showerheads with WaterSense labeled models. Their landscape rebate
program issued incentives for over 600 WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controllers and
nearly 1,900 WaterSense labeled spray sprinkler bodies. To promote this program and other water
conservation efforts, Valley Water offered virtual weekly "Office Hours," which reached over 600 residents
during 2022. Additionally, Valley Water offered a six-part webinar series on Zoom and Facebook Live
featuring local experts in the landscape and irrigation industries on outdoor water efficiency, which were
live translated in up to four languages.

In Spring 2022, Valley Water conducted a multilingual water conservation campaign, "Is Your Yard
Drought Ready? Our rebates can help make the change," and promoted it with digital ads, social
media posts, videos, radio ads, and print advertorials in community newspapers. Valley Water also
created animations displaying the WaterSense label on products such as smart irrigation controllers.
Their Speakers Bureau Program provided drought information to community groups, service clubs,
neighborhood associations, homeowners' associations, libraries, senior centers, and city councils
across Santa Clara County. At 38 community presentations, staff distributed WaterSense labeled
products to more than 1,000 attendees in 2022.

A

"Rancho Water continually V
strives to engage in activities
and outreach programs
which promote WaterSense
labeled products, water
use efficiency, and water
sustainability. Our team
is dedicated to creating
effective campaigns that are
fun and leverage partnership
opportunities which
resonate with customers."

Robert Grantham, Rancho
Water General Manager

Valley Water

Clean Water • Healthy Environment • Flood Protection

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2023 WaterSense Partner of the Year Winners

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Tarrant
Resional
Water
District

Tarrant (Texas) Regional Water District

After winning a WaterSense Excellence Award for education and
outreach in 2022, Tarrant (Texas) Regional Water District (TRWD)
ramped up its water conservation promotion to win its first WaterSense
Partner of the Year Award. Throughout 2022, TRWD promoted a variety
of WaterSense campaigns, including Love Your Bathroom, Fix a Leak
Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Your Better Yard, and Smart Irrigation
Month. To promote Shower Better, TRWD created a showerhead
exchange program for three of the District's customer cities: Arlington,
Bedford (both WaterSense partners), and Burleson. Residents returned
172 old showerheads to their local water utility offices and received a
WaterSense labeled showerhead in exchange.

TRWD's WaterSense labeled
showerhead exchange.

To celebrate Fix a Leak Week in March, TRWD partnered with the City
of Arlington (Texas) Water Utilities and Arlington Public Libraries to
offer two in-person workshops focused on do-it-yourself (DIY) home
leak repair and DIY sprinkler repair, where participants learned from a certified plumber and a licensed
irrigator about finding and fixing leaks in faucets, toilets, showers, and sprinklers. Participants also
received an indoor leak or sprinkler test kit. In July 2022, TRWD offered two more workshops for Smart
Irrigation Month, highlighting DIY sprinkler savings and sprinkler repair; over 150 people attended.

Using ideas from the WaterSense Partner Marketing Calendar, TRWD shared 36 posts on the Save Tarrant
Water social media accounts about conserving water in 2022. TRWD helped people give the gift of water
savings through its Water Conservation Holiday Conservation Gift Guide, which included ideas for indoor
and outdoor gifts, including rain barrels, smart irrigation controllers, and WaterSense labeled faucet
aerators. TRWD used the December 2022 edition of the Save Tarrant Water Monthly Drop e-newsletter to
advertise the guide.

Vallecitos (California) Water District

Vallecitos Water District promoted water efficiency across its Southern
California service area, winning its first Partner of the Year Award.
The District leveraged its in-house video production to help promote
water efficiency by creating educational videos for each of the 12
monthly themes in WaterSense's Editorial Calendar, including Love
Your Bathroom, Shower Better, World Toilet Day, and Water-Smart
Landscapes. The District created a WaterSense web page that included
WaterSense materials along with the videos. WaterSense was able to
then share the videos for partners to use in their social media channels.

Vallecitos Water held a Waters mart Landscape contest promoting
water efficiency and rewarding customers who participated with a
certificate to a local nursery. The District created a video highlighting
the top three winners and showcasing their water-efficient landscapes.

VALLECITOS

WATER DISTRICT

Water and Wastewater Specialists since 1955

A Vallecitos customer featured in the
WaterSmart Landscape contest.


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2023 WaterSense Partner of the Year Winners

They also partnered with local agencies on videos about a new landscape optimization program and San
Diego County's Waterscape Rebate Program.

To further promote water conservation, the District participated in street fairs and other events
throughout their service area, distributing WaterSense materials and native plants. Customers could
receive a $25 gift card by taking the January pledge to save water and were provided rebate information
on WaterSense labeled products.

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"The WaterSense label &
makes it easy for our y
customers to choose water-
efficient products for their
homes, and ourwater
conservation staff rely on the
WaterSense campaigns like
Fix a Leak Week for timely
messages to help us meet
our savings goals, especially
during drought."

Mike Healy, City of Petaluma
Councilmember and Water
Advisory Committee Chair
for the Partnership

Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership

The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership in California has won
its second Partner of the Year Award, and seventh overall award for
promoting WaterSense labeled products and water conservation. In
2022, the Partnership participated in several WaterSense campaigns,
including Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Smart Irrigation Month,
and When in Drought with newspaper placements, social media, web
banners, and WaterSense materials. To educate a wider audience, the
Partnership translated many of its educational materials into Spanish.

Throughout the summer, the Partnership held pop-ups at home
improvement stores, farmers markets, nurseries, summer concerts,
and other community events. For example, at an event in June, the
Partnership partnered with five local hardware stores; staff educated
customers about saving water and gave away WaterSense labeled
showerheads and faucet aerators.

With California still facing prolonged drought conditions in 2022, the
Partnership created a slogan, "The Drought is STILL Here," to encourage
California residents to maintain conservation efforts despite winter
rains. For its annual Eco-Friendly Garden Tour, the Partnership created
a video highlighting how to properly care for trees during droughts. To
help people save on water-efficient irrigation products, the Partnership
rebated over 300 WaterSense labeled smart irrigation controllers in
2022.

MANUFACTURER PARTNER OF THE YEAR

Niagara®

(JVj ^ I AGAR A Niagara®, a manufacturer of WaterSense labeled toilets, has earned

its seventh WaterSense award and second Partner of the Year Award!
Messaging about WaterSense and water efficiency has been a cornerstone of Niagara's advertising,
marketing, and public relations campaigns for more than 13 years. To ensure that the more than 100
wholesalers and distributers that carry Niagara's WaterSense labeled products across the United States
are educated about their benefits, they must complete a training course that includes information about
the WaterSense label and program. Niagara also works closely with industry organizations such as the

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2023 WaterSense Partner of the Year Winners

"We are honored to accept
the WaterSense Partner of
the Year Award. Our mission
is to provide customers
with innovative technology
that saves water without
compromising performance.
This recognition is a
testament to our team's
dedication and a significant
step in fulfilling our mission."

Carl Wehmeyer, Executive
Vice President, Niagara ^

American Institute of Architects and the American Society for Plumbing
Engineers to promote WaterSense labeled products and program
messaging through its continuing education courses and by attending
and sponsoring their trade shows.

Niagara has contributed directly to WaterSense program tools and
improvements; for example, Niagara participated in beta testing and
provided feedback as EPA developed the WaterSense Partner Savings
Calculator—an online tool that allows manufacturers to estimate water
savings from their products as a measure of their environmental, social,
and governance goals.

Niagara encouraged its more than 16,000 social media followers to
upgrade plumbing fixtures to WaterSense labeled models during Fix a
Leak Week in 2022; they also promoted the WaterSense Rebate Finder.
The company features a WaterSense page with labeled products on its corporate website, as well as on
Niagara's Pro website, and these pages describe Niagara's dedication to and history with WaterSense.
Niagara also reached professional customers by attending 26 trade shows in 2022, where staff promoted
WaterSense at booths, in marketing collateral, and in conversations with attendees.

RETAILER PARTNER OF THE YEAR

The Home Depot

The Home Depot secured its third consecutive Partner of the Year
Award and continued to help customers save water by making over
6,000 WaterSense labeled product models affordable and accessible
in more than 2,000 stores across the country. The retailer ensured that
100 percent of the toilets, bathroom faucets, and showerheads sold in
U.S. Home Depot stores were WaterSense labeled models. The Home
Depot estimates that its customers' purchases of WaterSense labeled products during its 2022 fiscal
year helped reduce annual water consumption by over 33 billion gallons, which would collectively mean
savings of more than $686 million on water bills.

To promote these products to customers, the retailer highlighted WaterSense in their in-store marketing,
online ad campaigns, direct-to-customer emails, and infographics on its website. In calendaryear 2022,
The Home Depot placed over 62 million print ads featuring WaterSense labeled products. They also
offered several virtual workshops on bathroom planning, kitchen planning, and how to install faucets and
toilets. The workshops highlighted WaterSense labeled products and their water-saving benefits.

The Home Depot also worked with utilities to make over 500 local rebates available, offered instant
rebates at over 760 stores and worked with the Texas government to promote tax-free weekends
for ENERGY STAR appliances and WaterSense labeled products. The Home Depot ensures that its
employees understand the savings and benefits of WaterSense labeled products by including information
in their online training modules, a pocket guide for store associates, the retailer's merchant handbook,
and in a quarterly newsletter sent to all U.S. associates.

Learn More

WaterSense congratulates the 2023 Partner of Year Award winners. For more information and to learn
about all the benefits of partnership, visitwww.epa.gov/watersense.


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