The WaterSense Current

Winter 2025 - Issue LXXI

The WaterSense Current is a quarterly update dedicated to news and events related to WaterSense. Sign up to receive The WaterSense Current and get WaterSense news delivered right to your Inbox. 

In This Issue:

• Ring in the New Year With a Water-Saving Resolution
• Five Minutes for Five Days Leads to a Leak-Free 2025
• WaterSense Labeled Homes zHome Community Falls Head Over Heels With Savings
• WaterSense Gives Reverse Osmosis Systems the Labeling Treatment
• City of Flagstaff Has a Banner Year of Water Savings
• Award-Winning Education Becomes Second Nature for Tarrant Regional Water District

Ring in the New Year With a Water-Saving Resolution

Ready to prioritize saving water in the new year but don’t know where to start? Take the WaterSense “I’m for Water” pledge to commit to conserving water throughout the year. Once you’ve taken the pledge, use the Resolutions Checklist to find simple water-saving actions you and your family can do each month to save water indoors and outdoors. Not only will you save water for future generations, but you’ll also save money on your monthly utility bills

To start, review your water bill to learn how much water your home uses each month. Once you understand how much water you’re using, you can begin finding ways to save. In February, make sure your home is in shape for the rest of the year by using the Maintenance Checklist for a Water-Efficient Home that has simple actions to sustain the efficiency of water-using fixtures, features, and systems. During spring and summer, you can use the checklist to help you save water outdoors, with tips for a sprinkler spruce-up, Smart Irrigation Month, and more.

To make saving water all year long easy, replace your old plumbing fixtures with WaterSense labeled models. This Product Search Tool can help you find the labeled fixtures that fit in with your budget while matching your style. Fixtures like WaterSense labeled showerheads, toilets, and faucet aerators are independently certified to use 20 percent less water and perform as well or better than standard models. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, choose one of two different types of WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers that can schedule watering based on local weather conditions or soil moisture levels to keep your landscapes green and your water use in check throughout the irrigation season.

Five Minutes for Five Days Leads to a Leak-Free 2025

While a small leak may not seem like a big deal, they can add up to thousands of gallons of water wasted every year. Don’t let leaks drown you in utility bills—get ready to find and fix leaks during Fix a Leak Week March 17 through 23. Stopping leaks in your home that week can take as little as five minutes per day! Tackle each of these five actions to help you stay leak-free all 2025.

On the first day of Fix a Leak Week, review your water bill to see how much water you used in January and February. Water use and cost tends to be lower in the winter months, so if you’re a family of four and your water use exceeds 12,000 gallons per month, you likely have a leak. Once you’ve reviewed your water bill, look for potential leaks on day 2. Check for drips or water puddles under sinks, tub spouts, and hose bibs.

For the third day of Fix a Leak Week, test your toilet for leaks by placing a few drops of food coloring in the toilet tank and waiting five minutes. If color appears in the toilet bowl, your toilet has a leak. Make sure you flush after the test to avoid staining the bowl. If you’ve done the toilet dye test and discovered you have a leak, it’s time to switch out the flapper in the toilet tank. Old, worn-out rubber flappers are a common culprit of leaks, but the good news is that replacing a toilet flapper is easy and inexpensive! WaterSense has a bath hack that shows you how to replace your toilet flapper without needing to call a plumber.

To close out Fix a Leak Week, swap out your faucets’ aerators to WaterSense labeled models, which can help your family save up to 700 gallons of water per year for just a few dollars. Check out the Fix a Leak Week page for more activities.

WaterSense Labeled Homes zHome Community Falls Head Over Heels With Savings

If you’re in the market for a new home, one that’s earned the WaterSense label will steal your heart, save energy, and keep money in your wallet. To share how a WaterSense labeled home is the gift that keeps on giving, WaterSense published a case study on the zHome community in Issaquah, Washington— the first WaterSense labeled residential home community in the country. The study highlights how WaterSense labeled homes offer a holistic approach to save water, energy, and money from 2012 to 2023.

The zHome community, completed in 2011, is a multi-family building with 10 residential units totaling 13,400 square feet of space. When developing the plans for the community, the project partners set a goal of reducing water consumption by 70 percent compared to the national average. The homes included all WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures, as well as ENERGY STAR® clothes washers and dishwashers and rainwater harvesting systems to capture and reuse precipitation.

After tracking the community’s water use for over 10 years, the community has exceeded the savings goal set at the beginning of the project! Since 2012, each individual unit has used an average of 41 gallons of water a day, compared to more than 300 gallons of water used daily by the average family of four in non-labeled homes. The homeowners in the community have expressed continued satisfaction with the performance of the homes as a whole, as well as the WaterSense labeled fixtures installed in the homes. To learn more about the criteria and verification process for WaterSense labeled homes, visit the WaterSense website.

WaterSense Gives Reverse Osmosis Systems the Labeling Treatment

Point-of-use reverse osmosis (RO) systems are water treatment systems connected to a single fixture, like the kitchen sink, that remove contaminants from water. While RO systems help to filter out contaminants from water used in our daily lives, they are also a major source of water waste, which is why EPA has published a specification to label water-efficient and high-performing RO systems. Because not every household needs an RO system, WaterSense created several resources to help consumers determine whether an RO system is right for their household.

If you’re not familiar with the different water treatment systems available, read the WaterSense Guide to Selecting Water Treatment Systems, which includes reasons for treating water at home and explains how each water treatment technology works. To help consumers decide if a point-of-use RO system, specifically, is right for them, WaterSense developed the Treating Water With Less Waste report, which includes the benefits of choosing a WaterSense labeled RO system over a standard RO system.

A typical point-of-use RO system sends five gallons of water or more down the drain for every gallon of treated water it produces. However, RO systems that earn the WaterSense label will be certified to send just 2.3 gallons of water or less down the drain for every gallon of treated water they produce. WaterSense labeled RO systems can reduce water wasted during the RO treatment process by more than 3,100 gallons of water annually, while still providing the water quality that consumers demand. Look out for WaterSense labeled RO products in the near future.

City of Flagstaff Has a Banner Year of Water Savings

A banner year of creative outreach and educational programs gave the City of Flagstaff (Arizona) their first WaterSense Partner of the Year Award. The City started out the year by participating in the Flagstaff Visitors Center’s annual Chocolate Walk in February 2023. Staff gave samples and discussed the embodied water in the production of chocolate, while providing WaterSense labeled products and other water-efficient giveaways. In April, the City organized a scavenger hunt with local nonprofit organizations to promote water conservation and give away WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators.

The City continued their educational outreach by hosting trivia nights during the month of April to help the community learn about Flagstaff’s water resources and tips to save water and win WaterSense labeled products. In the fall, the City participated in a climate panel for the annual Festival of Science at Lowell Observatory, where they discussed water efficiency and gave out WaterSense labeled faucet aerators and showerheads. To help residents save water at home, the City provided over 400 Home Water Check-up Kits during the Make a Difference Day recycling event, including supplies to check for leaks and a WaterSense labeled faucet aerator.

During the Northern Arizona University’s Better World Film Series, the City hosted a documentary screening and presentation focused on WaterSense labeled products. The City of Flagstaff also engaged event attendees throughout the year with a large-scale “connect four” game and a cornhole set using the WaterSense label they constructed. In addition to these events, the City gave away and issued rebates on nearly 4,000 WaterSense labeled fixtures to Flagstaff residents!

Award-Winning Education Becomes Second Nature for Tarrant Regional Water District

Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) in Fort Worth, Texas, earned their second Partner of the Year Award by working with their customer cities to promote WaterSense and water conservation at various educational events. In 2023, TRWD held over 230 water conservation classes and events, reaching over 15,400 participants. To celebrate Fix a Leak Week, TRWD offered workshops focused on finding and fixing leaks inside and outside the home, including demonstrations. Participants received an indoor leak kit or sprinkler test kit to take home and put what they learned into action.

To build upon its water-saving education during the hottest months of the year, TRWD offered a Summer Savings Series of online classes to all of its customer cities, including Be Smarter Than Your Smart Controller, Home Sprinkler Basics, and DIY Sprinkler Repair. They also collaborated with the City of Dallas and North Texas Municipal Water District to create a regional water conservation advertising campaign, which included a weekly watering advice service that promoted smart lawn watering techniques. When winter rolled around, TRWD promoted WaterSense labeled products as part of the Holiday Gift Guide on their website and in the Save Tarrant Water Monthly Drop newsletter.

Throughout 2023, TRWD conducted drawings for water conservation-related prizes in conjunction with WaterSense campaigns such as Your Better Yard, Smart Irrigation Month, and Shower Better. To enter the drawing, customers could read a web page or blog post and answer questions to win native Texas plant garden kits, WaterSense labeled smart irrigation controllers, or a shower savings kit that included two WaterSense labeled showerheads. During Shower Better Month, TRWD provided WaterSense labeled showerheads to nearly 200 residents who traded in their old showerheads into their local water utility offices.