Water efficiency
WaterSense® is an EPA Partnership program similar to ENERGY STAR®, whose goal is to promote the awareness of consumer products that conserve water. With its recognizable label, WaterSense helps consumers easily identify water-efficient products in the marketplace while ensuring performance and encouraging innovative manufacturing. Manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of water-efficient plumbing fixtures use third-party certification to gain permission to use the WaterSense label on their products. As a result, consumers can recognize products with the WaterSense label as quality items are at least 20 percent more efficient than the average products in their category. Currently, the program provides certification benchmarks for irrigation products and residential plumbing fixtures, such as toilets, faucets, and showerheads.
Water Saving Toilets - More Efficient, Save Water
WaterSense has developed a product specification that covers high-efficiency toilets (HETs)—those that use 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) or less, as opposed to the standard 1.6 gpf, or the 3.5 gpf that characterizes some older toilets. As a result, today's high-performing models remove waste at least as efficiently as conventional toilets while using much less water.
A variety of high-performing, low-flow toilets are available for residential use and can be comparable in price to standard toilets. The following is a rundown of a few technology types with some benefits and drawbacks for each.
There are four basic types of HET toilets:
- Gravity-assisted HETs use the same system standard toilets, but with less water. When the toilet is flushed, water and waste are pulled down the drain by gravity.
- Dual-flush gravity assisted toilets also use gravity, but offer two flushing options. With a push-button flusher, a homeowner can choose a full flush of up to 1.6 gallons for solid waste or a half flush of 1.1 gallons for liquid waste (these numbers lead to an average flush of less than 1.2 gpf). Dual-flush toilets have been widely used outside of North America for years, and you may have seen them recently in commercial applications in the US.
- In pressure-assisted toilets, the line pressure of water entering the toilet tank compresses trapped air within a sealed tank until the air and water pressure are equal. When the toilet is flushed, the pressure of the compressed air reinforces the normal gravity flow. The increased pressure works well to remove waste with low amounts of water; however, some pressure-assisted toilets can be noisy, expensive, and require frequent repairs.
- Vacuum-assisted toilets activate a vacuum chamber in the tank when flushing, which acts like a siphon to pull water into the bowl. This design allows water to reach a greater area in the bowl, keeping the toilet cleaner. Vacuum-assisted toilets tend to be quieter than pressure-assisted toilets, but the flush is weaker.
Water-Efficient Faucets
Faucets account for more than 15% of indoor water use in most households. This is more than 1 trillion gallons of water across the United States each year. Federal law requires that new faucets not exceed 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm); however, older faucets can flow at rates as high as 3 to 7 gpm. Water-efficient faucets labeled by WaterSense will use no more than 1.5 gpm, reducing the standard flow by more than 30 percent without sacrificing performance. All major plumbing brands such as Kohler and Moen, and retailers such as Home Depot, carry WaterSense-labeled products.
High Efficiency Showerheads - Conserve Water And Money
Everyday, three billion gallons of water are used for showers alone in the US. This not only affects the environment, but your pocketbook as well. New high-efficiency showerheads use much less water than standard showerheads without sacrificing pressure. An average efficient fixture may use water at a rate of 1.5 gpm, where a standard fixture's rate might be closer to 2.5 gpm. Using less hot water can save you money on your water and energy bills.
Sink Foot Pedals - Now Simple Enough for Residential Use
Looking for a really innovative way to save water? Try foot pedals on your kitchen and bathroom faucets. Utilizing a foot pedal to trigger your faucets will improve efficiency by giving you water only when you need it, and forcing you to turn it back off. Combined with hot water demand system technology, you'll never have an excuse to leave water running in the bathroom again! (Foot pedals can also come with latches for continuous flow and options to switch to hand-operation if you really need it, like for kitchen sink use.) Foot pedals can be used on with any type of faucet, and will also make your washing experiences more hygienic, since they eliminate hand contact with the fixtures. Check out www.pedalvalve.com for a great sink foot pedal resource.