The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to revise its criteria for faucets and faucet accessories to earn the WaterSense label.
The specification launched in 2007; since then, most faucets now sold in the U.S. meet or exceed the current WaterSense maximum flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm). Several states have adopted regulations that require that private lavatory faucets not exceed flow rates of 1.5 gpm, and four states do not allow the sale of these faucets with a flow rate over 1.2 gpm.
EPA is considering lowering the maximum flow rate for WaterSense private lavatory faucets to earn the label to either 1.2 gpm or 1.0 gpm. EPA will also clarify that bar sink faucets are covered by the specification. In addition, EPA is considering allowing other types of faucets to earn the WaterSense label, including public use lavatory faucets, kitchen faucets, and metering and self-closing faucets.
Since the program’s inception, WaterSense has helped consumers save a cumulative 7.5 trillion gallons of water and more than $171 billion in water and energy bills, EPA says.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Urban Land Institute honors five 'outstanding' developments in Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Five outstanding developments have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) 2009 Awards for Excellence: Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) competition. This year, the competition also included the announcement of two special award winners. The Awards for Excellence competition is widely regarded as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program.
| Aug 11, 2010
Design firms slash IT spending in 2009
Over half of architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms (55%) are budgeting less for information technology in 2009 than they did in 2008, according to a new report from ZweigWhite. The 2009 Information Technology Survey reports that firms' 2009 IT budgets are a median of 3.3% of net service revenue, down from 3.6% in 2008. Firms planning to decrease spending are expected to do so by a median of 20%.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HOK top BD+C's ranking of the 75 largest state/local government design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 State/Local Government Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
City of Anaheim selects HOK Los Angeles and Parsons Brinckerhoff to design the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center
The Los Angeles office of HOK, a global architecture design firm, and Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure strategic consulting, engineering and program/construction management organization, announced its combined team was selected by the Anaheim City Council and Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to design phase one of the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green consultant guarantees LEED certification or your money back
With cities mandating LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for public, and even private, buildings in growing numbers, an Atlanta-based sustainability consulting firm is hoping to ease anxieties over meeting those goals with the industry’s first Green Guaranteed.
