The International Code Council applauded the authorization of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) WaterSense Program. The U.S Congress today passed America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (S. 3021), which includes a formal authorization for this important initiative developed to help consumers identify water efficient products that meet EPA’s criteria for efficiency and performance. The Code Council worked closely with Congress to support the passage of this significant legislation.

Since its creation in 2006, WaterSense has conserved more than 2.7 trillion gallons of water and saved American families $63.8 billion in water and energy bills, according to the EPA. WaterSense has also helped reduce the amount of energy needed to heat, pump and treat water by 367 billion kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to a year’s worth of power for more than 34.1 million U.S. homes.

The Code Council develops the International Codes, a family of fifteen coordinated, modern building safety codes used throughout the world, that cover structural, fire, plumbing, mechanical, resiliency and more. The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) references the WaterSense performance standards as they relate to the IgCC’s water efficiency provisions.

WaterSense is a voluntary public-private partnership which uses accredited private sector product certifiers to ensure products comply with the EPA specifications. ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES), a member of the ICC Family of Companies and an industry leader in technical evaluations of building products, is an EPA licensed certifier. As a licensed provider of WaterSense certifications, ICC-ES evaluates toilets, flushometer valve toilets, bathroom sink faucets, urinals, showerheads, Pre-Rinse spray valves, irrigation controllers and sprinkler spray bodies in accordance with EPA specifications.

International Accreditation Service, another member of the ICC Family of Companies and an international leader in accrediting testing laboratories, inspection bodies and product certification agencies, is approved by the EPA to offer accreditation services under WaterSense product certification system. All product certifying bodies must be accredited to certify products for the WaterSense label.

“WaterSense is a vital program that has been extremely effective in achieving water efficiency initiatives,” said Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO. “This remarkable, voluntary partnership between the private and public sectors has produced one of the best paybacks of any federal program.”

www.epa.gov