WaterSense - Using Standards to Help Save Water
WaterSense is a partnership program managed by the EPA that 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, homes, and services. WaterSense brings together a variety of stakeholders to promote the value of water efficiency, provide consumers with easy ways to save water, encourage innovation in manufacturing and to decrease water use reducing strain on water resources and infrastructure. In accordance with its certification system, all products bearing the WaterSense label must be certified by an accredited third party certification body. In addition, WaterSense participates in a number of Voluntary Consensus Standards to develop the test methods on which its efficiency and performance requirements are based. Participation in third party conformance assessment and standards greatly increases the utilization of WaterSense requirements by local jurisdictions and reduce the cost of product development for manufacturers.
2018 Status Update
To support its specification for showerheads , WaterSense worked with the ASME A112.18.1/CSA B125.1 showerheads task group on two items. First, the task group modified the WaterSense test method for spray force to allow showerheads that are mounted from the overhead position to be tested. These types of showerheads were a small niche market when the specification was first introduced in 2010. Now, eight years later, they are a much more popular type of fitting, and WaterSense and stakeholders agreed they should be eligible for labeling. Second, once the spray force test was modified, the task group submitted revisions to the standard to incorporate the new spray force and existing spray coverage test from the WaterSense specification into the standard. The revised standard now incorporates both test methods, and the WaterSense showerhead specification references the ASME/CSA standard. By the end of 2018, WaterSense had labeled more than 8,200 models of showerheads, the use of which helped contribute to more than 2.7 trillion gallons of water saved by the program overall between 2007 and 2017.
2021 Status Update
ANSI/ASABE S633 Testing Protocol for Landscape Irrigation Soil Moisture-based Control Technologies
The WaterSense staff worked with the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) S633 committee to develop a test method for bypass type soil moisture sensors-based irrigation controllers. The standards committee and WaterSense coordinated on the publication of draft versions so that the public would have ample time to review and comment on both documents. ASABE published S633 in May 2020. The WaterSense Specification for Soil moisture-based Irrigation Controllers, incorporating the standard with minor modifications, was published Feb 2021.
ANSI/ASABE S627 Weather based Landscape Irrigation Control Systems
The WaterSense Specification for Weather-based Irrigation Controllers was based on a version of the Irrigation Association (IA) Smart Water Application Technologies (SWAT) test method. After reviewing performance data for products tested under the SWAT method, WaterSense made several changes to improve the metrics for water efficiency and provide sufficient detail to run the test consistently at any laboratory. WaterSense staff worked with the committee and in Dec 2020 ASABE published the S627 standard that incorporated the SWAT method with all the changes recommended by WaterSense. The WaterSense specification was updated in September 2021 to reflect the new standard.
ASABE/ICC 802-2020, “Landscape Irrigation Sprinkler and Emitter Standard
WaterSense used the ASABE/ICC 802-2014 test method as the basis for the WaterSense Specification for Spray Sprinkler Bodies, but significant changes were made to eliminate redundant steps, correct deficiencies in the method and provide sufficient detail to run the test consistently at any laboratory. WaterSense worked with the 802 committee to revise the standard and incorporate these changes. A new standard 802-2020 was published on Nov 5, 2020
ANSI/RESNET/ICC 850-2020 and ICC/700-2020
WaterSense worked with several standards development organizations to transition the requirements for its WaterSense labeled homes program from the government specific requirements in Version 1 to voluntary consensus standards (VCS) in Version 2 by using ANSI/RESNET/ICC 850-2020 and ICC 700-2020. In addition to replacing government specific requirements, using the VCS standards has added flexibility to the WaterSense labeled homes program without sacrificing water savings or performance. As a result, participation in the program has increased with both more certification organization participating in the program and more overall certified homes.