Water Sense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions April 10, 2020 ------- WaterSense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions I. Introduction On October 24, 2018, the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 20181 formally authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) WaterSense program. The law required that, not later than December 31, 2019, the EPA "consider for review and revise, if necessary, any WaterSense performance criteria adopted before January 1, 2012," necessitating the review of several specifications, including WaterSense's specifications for tank-type toilets, lavatory faucets and faucet accessories, showerheads, flushing urinals, and weather-based irrigation controllers. Throughout 2019, the EPA conducted its review.2 As part of its review, the EPA considered product certification trends (summarized in Section II below). The EPA also hosted a series of public webinars to solicit stakeholder feedback on potential revisions to each of the WaterSense specifications under review. As part each webinar, the EPA conducted polls for different stakeholder groups in attendance to determine support for revising certain criteria for each specification. The poll results are summarized in Section III for each product category. II. Product Certification Trends The EPA considered product certification trends as part of its specification review. The tables below summarize the number of models certified for each product category, as well as the categorization of certified models based on flush volume or flow rate. Tank-Type Toilets Table 1. Number and percentage of WaterSense labeled tank-type toilets by flush volume Effective Flush Volume < 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) and >1.1 gpf <1.1 gpf and >1.0 gpf <1.0 gpf and > 0.8 gpf < 0.8 gpf Total Single-flush models 1,887 36 166 58 2,147 Percentage of single- flush models 87.9% 1.7% 7.7% 2.7% - Dual-flush models 703 391 107 11 1,212 Percentage of dual- flush models 58.0% 32.3% 8.8% 0.9% - Total models 2,590 427 273 69 3,359 Percentage of total 77.1% 12.7% 8.1% 2.1% - *As of May 2019 1 America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. www.congress.aov/bill/115th-conaress/senate-bill/3021/text 2 The WaterSense Notice of Specification Review, along with associated presentation materials, meeting summaries, and recordings, can be accessed at www.epa.aov/watersense/product-specification-review. 1 April 10, 2020 ------- 4 epa Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input AA/atCl*ScUSC on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Table 2. Number and percentage of WaterSense labeled dual-flush tank-type toilets by full-flush volume Full-Flush Volume <1.6 gpf and > 1.28 gpf < 1.28 gpf Total Dual-flush models 1,001 211 1,212 Percentage of total 82.6% 17.4% - *As of May 2019 Figure 1. Number of WaterSense labeled tank-type toilets by flush volume based on year certified Lavatory Faucets and Faucet Accessories Table 3. Number and percentage of WaterSense labeled lavatory faucets and faucet accessories by flow rate Maximum Flow Rate <1.5 gallons per minute (gpm) and >1.2 gpm <1.2 gpm and >1.0 gpm <1.0 gpm Total Number of models 9,534 5,847 1,164 16,545 Percentage of total 57.6% 35.5% 7.0% - *As of April 2019 2 April 10, 2020 ------- 4 epa Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input AA/atCl*ScUSC on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions 5,000 4,500 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 ill I ¦ <1.0 gpm ¦ <1.2 gpm and >1.0 gpm i < 1.5 gpm and > 1.2 gpm 0 — 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Figure 2. Number of WaterSense labeled lavatory faucets and faucet accessories by flow rate based on year certified Showerheads Table 4. Number and percentage of WaterSense labeled showerheads by flow rate Maximum Flow Rate < 2.0 gpm and >1.8 gpm <1.8 gpm and > 1.75 gpm < 1.75 gpm and > 1.5 gpm <1.5 gpm and >1.3 gpm < 1.3 gpm Total Number of models 3,471 1,383 2,216 977 269 8,316 Percentage of total 41.7% 16.6% 26.6% 11.8% 3.2% " *As of April 2019 3 April 10, 2020 ------- EPA 4 WaterSense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 .Mill 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 i< 1.3 gpm i< 1.5 gpm and > 1.3 gpm i < 1.75 gpm and > 1.5 gpm i < 1.8 gpm and > 1.75 gpm i < 2.0 gpm and >1.8 gpm Figure 3. Number of WaterSense labeled showerheads by flow rate based on year certified Flushing Urinals Table 5. Number and percentage of WaterSense labeled flushing urinals by flush volume Flush Volume < 0.5 gpf and > 0.25 gpf < 0.25 gpf and > 0.125 gpf <0.125 gpf Total Number of fixture models 81 13 55 149 Percentage 54.3% 8.7% 36.9% - Number of flush valve models 177 35 128 340 Percentage 52.1% 10.3% 37.6% - Number of systems 54 46 102 202 Percentage 26.7% 22.8% 50.5% - *As of May 2019 4 April 10, 2020 ------- 4 epa Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input AA/atCl*ScUSC on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Figure 4. Number of WaterSense labeled flushing urinals by flush volume based on year certified Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers Figure 5. Number of weather-based irrigation controller manufacturer partners 5 April 10, 2020 ------- 4 EPA WaterSense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Figure 6. Total number of WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controller models III. Stakeholder Input As part of a series of public webinars held to solicit stakeholder feedback on each product category, the EPA conducted polls for different stakeholder groups to determine support for revising certain criteria for each specification. The poll results are summarized below for each product category. Tank-Type Toilets 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Manufacturer Webinar Utility and Promo Partner Webinar ¦ Yes ¦No ¦ Need more information Figure 7. Stakeholder feedback on whether WaterSense should revise the flush volume criteria for tank-type toilets 6 April 10, 2020 ------- EPA 4 WaterSense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Lavatory Faucets and Faucet Accessories 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Manufacturer Webinar Utility and Promo Partner Webinar ¦ Yes hNo ¦ Need more information Figure 8. Stakeholder feedback on whether WaterSense should revise the flow rate criteria for lavatory faucets and faucet accessories Showerheads 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Manufacturer Webinar Utility and Promo Partner Webinar ¦ Yes hNo ¦ Need more information Figure 9. Stakeholder feedback on whether WaterSense should revise the flow rate criteria for showerheads 7 April 10, 2020 ------- EPA 4 WaterSense Certification Trends and Stakeholder Input on Potential WaterSense® Specification Revisions Flushing Urinals 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Manufacturer Webinar Utility and Promo Partner Webinar ¦ Yes hNo ¦ Need more information Figure 10. Stakeholder feedback on whether WaterSense should revise the flush volume criteria for flushing urinals Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% .1 ll Test method Supplemental Packaging and No changes and capability labeling needed performance requirements requirements thresholds and/or definitions Need more information i Manufacturer Webinar i Utility and Promo Partner Webinar Figure 11. Stakeholder feedback on whether WaterSense should revise certain requirements of the WaterSense Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers 8 April 10, 2020 ------- |