WaterSense Awards | US EPA (2024)

WaterSense partners contribute to the program's success by enhancing the market for water–efficient products, practices, and services. Each year WaterSense recognizes those partners who have gone above and beyond in supporting WaterSense. The winners are typically announced at a Partner of the Year awards luncheon in October at the annual WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2023 WaterSense Partners of the Year

On October 5, 2023, the 2023 WaterSense Sustained Excellence, Partner of the Year, and Excellence Award winners were announced during the WaterSmart Innovations Conference. WaterSense and its more than 2,000 utility, manufacturer, retail, builder, and other organizational partners make it possible for consumers and businesses to save water, energy, and money by producing and promoting water-efficient products, homes, and programs. Since 2006, WaterSense partners have helped save 7.5 trillion gallons of water and $171 billion on consumer utility bills.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to recognize 13 Sustained Excellence Award winners, 9 Partner of the Year Award winners, and 25 Excellence Award winners for their support of WaterSense and water efficiency in 2022 and contributing to annual savings of 1.1 trillion gallons of water!

2023 WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award Winners:

• Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department
• Citrus County (Florida) Utilities
• City of Charlottesville (Virginia)
• City of Durham (North Carolina) Water Management
• City of Plano (Texas)
• City of Sacramento (California) Department of Utilities
• Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District
• Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District
• Upper San Gabriel Valley (California) Municipal Water District
• Fulton Homes
• KB Home
• Kohler Co.
• Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership (California)

2023 WaterSense Partners of the Year:

• Harris-Galveston (Texas) Subsidence District
• Houston Public Works
• Rancho California Water District
• Santa Clara Valley (California) Water District
• Tarrant (Texas) Regional Water District
• Vallecitos (California) Water District
• Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership
• Niagara®
• The Home Depot

2023 WaterSense Excellence Award Winners:

• Big Bear Lake Department of Water and Power (California)
• Irvine Ranch Water District (California)
• Kearns Improvement District (Utah)
• Monte Vista Water District (California)
• San Diego County (California) Water Authority
• The Toro Company
• Sacramento Suburban Water District (California)
• Cobb County (Georgia) Water System
• Department of Water, County of Kaua‘i (Hawaii)
• Alameda County (California) Water District
• California Water Service Company
• City of Flagstaff (Arizona)
• City of Tucson (Arizona)/Tucson Water
• Marin Municipal Water District (California)
• Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)
• San Dieguito Water District (California)
• Tampa Bay (Florida) Water
• Utah Division of Water Resources
• Smart Rain
• Hunter Industries
• Alliance for Water Efficiency
• American Water
• G3, Green Gardens Group (Los Angeles)
• SCV Water (Santa Clarita Valley, California)
• Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Learn more about:

• WaterSense 2023 Sustained Excellence Awards (pdf) (2.4 MB, October 2023)
• WaterSense 2023 Partner of the Year Awards (pdf) (1.5 MB, October 2023)
• WaterSense 2023 Excellence Awards (pdf) (2.8 MB, October 2023)
• Award winners from previous years

2023 Sustained Excellence Award Winners

Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department

Earning its seventh Sustained Excellence Award, the Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department’s Water Conservation Office (WCO) continued its commitment to WaterSense and water conservation outreach in 2022. WCO creatively demonstrated the importance of saving water during a trip to a local brewery for its Imagine a Day Without Water: Tappy Hour. They set up several games throughout the brewery, including taste test challenges and a Water Bingo Scavenger Hunt, where guests searched for a WaterSense logo that WCO staff had hidden around the brewery.

On Valentine’s Day, WCO held a “romantic tour” of the Water Reclamation Facility. Residents could explore the facility and learn about water conservation and efficiency and received toilet leak- detection dye tablets and WaterSense labeled showerheads. Due to popular demand, the WCO had to add a second tour to the schedule and offered a virtual tour for those who could not attend in person.

To promote Shower Better, Athens-Clarke County continued to partner with two local hardware stores to distribute dye tabs and showerheads. They also encouraged customers to save water with the Shorter Shower Power Challenge, creating a Spotify playlist consisting of songs around 2.5 minutes in length, so people could listen and know five minutes was up after two songs. Athens- Clarke also worked with local nonprofits, offering free water efficiency evaluations that included a comprehensive facility walk-through to check plumbing fixtures for leaks. Following the evaluations, WCO provided four replacements for toilets that were outdated and inefficient or had a visible leak.

Citrus County (Florida) Utilities

Citrus County (Florida) Utilities ramped up its water conservation education and outreach efforts in 2022, winning its fifth WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award. Twenty Citrus County school classes participated in the Classroom Toilet Leak Detection Challenge, testing over 300 toilets for leaks. As a result of the challenge, students identified 32 leaks to fix, resulting in water savings of more than 6,400 gallons of water per day.

For Fix a Leak Week, Citrus County provided outdoor water efficiency training to 560 residents through its “Schedule a Specialist” program. Nearly 200 of those who received the training had a WaterSense labeled irrigation controller installed. The utility completed Phase 5 of its WaterSense Labeled Irrigation Controller Installation Program in September 2022; results from Phase 4 indicated a 34 percent average reduction in water use.

To spread the water savings, Citrus County helped Bonita Springs (Florida) Utility start an irrigation controller rebate program and encouraged the utility to become a WaterSense partner. Citrus County Utilities also gave a presentation on its water conservation efforts to the grant agency, Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority.

City of Charlottesville (Virginia)

“Aligning our outreach and education with WaterSense helps us be clear, consistent, accurate, and informative. We look forward to continued support on ways to communicate and engage our community.”

Kristel Riddervold, Environmental Sustainability Manager

The City of Charlottesville (Virginia) won its sixth Sustained Excellence Award, thanks to its exceptional outreach and educational efforts. Charlottesville promoted a variety of WaterSense campaigns, including Your Better Yard, Shower Better, and Sprinkler Spruce-Up, along with a month-long celebration for Fix a Leak Week. The City also helped local companies promote saving water with “WaterSense at Work” resources.

To promote “Imagine a Day Without Water,” Charlottesville held a youth art contest focused on the value of water. The City was active on social media, posting weekly on Water Tip Wednesday (#WTW) about water-saving actions that aligned with WaterSense’s monthly water conservation themes. Charlottesville also held a contest that encouraged residents to submit photos of their rain barrels while promoting the city’s rain barrel rebate and WaterSense outdoor water conservation messaging.

Along with promoting water-saving behaviors, Charlottesville also distributed WaterSense labeled and water-efficient plumbing fixtures. In 2022, the City rebated 84 toilets for a total of over $8,000, helping save more than 780,000 gallons of water annually. The City distributed 160 conservation kits, 60 WaterSense labeled faucet aerators, and 440 toilet leak detection dye tabs to community groups to give away at local events, along with 60 toilet flappers to prevent toilet leaks.

City of Durham (North Carolina) Water Management

After winning multiple Excellence and WaterSense Partner of the Year Awards, the City of Durham (North Carolina) Department of Water Management has won its first Sustained Excellence Award. In 2022, the City reached nearly 2,900 Durham residents and businesses with water conservation and WaterSense messaging by participating in 28 outreach events and presentations, including festivals, concerts, and school outreach.

To celebrate Fix a Leak Week, the City had a table at the Durham Food Truck Rodeo, gave away free WaterSense labeled showerheads, offered three virtual Fix-a-Leak workshops, held an online virtual scavenger hunt, and created ads and infographics in both English and Spanish. To encourage people to take advantage of the City’s WaterSense labeledtoilet rebate, the City created a short spot, “Even Toilets Have to Do Better,” to post on social media.

Durham Water Management also partnered with Waste Reduction Partners to offer water auditing services to its larger, non-residential customers. The City coordinated with other departments to highlight WaterSense in six issues of the City Manager’s Report in 2022, including the We’re for Water pledge, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Durham’s toilet rebate program, and the benefits of replacing fixtures with WaterSense labeled models.

The City of Plano (Texas)

Continuing its conservation streak, the City of Plano (Texas) has earned a fourth Sustained Excellence Award for continued water conservation efforts and promoting WaterSense. In addition to a virtual leak-fixing workshop, Plano held an in-person, hands-on Fix a Leak Week workshop with 36 attendees. The City also offered a three-part Sprinkler Spruce-Up webinar series, which had more than 100 attendees, and two in-person, hands-on Sprinkler Fairs, with 63 attendees.

“We are excited to receive our seventh consecutive WaterSense award! We thank WaterSense for the example they set and the vast resources provided that result in exceptional water savings nationwide.”

Rachel C. Patterson, Director of Environmental Health and Sustainability

To expand its water conservation reach even further, the City partnered with North Texas Municipal Water District and the Texas Legends basketball team to conduct water-efficient education during a local youth basketball clinic. The City also partnered with Rain Water Solutions in North Carolina to offer residents discounted rain barrels and compost bins and led 18 in-person, water-focused school programs that reached more than 350 children in 2022.

The City of Plano’s Residential Water Conservation Rebate Program provided incentives on more than 500 WaterSense labeled toilets, saving residents over $45,000. The City also provided rebates for 55 rain/freeze sensors and WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controllers. This rebate program saved residents more than $3,000. Finally, the City provided rebates for 19 pressure-reducing valves at qualifying homes, saving residents more than $9,000.

City of Sacramento (California) Department of Utilities

The City of Sacramento (California) Department of Utilities won its second WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award, continuing to promote water conservation through education, outreach, andcollaboration. In 2022, the City dedicated the entire month of March to Fix a Leak Week, promoting the WaterSense Flip Your Flapper campaign, and held a webinar, “Become a Leak Detective: Take the 10-Minute Challenge,” encouraging residents to track down leaks at the home.

In 2022, the City held its first Water Conservation Showcase since 2019, inviting local smart irrigation vendors, landscape professionals, and conservation experts to share information. Attendees could enter raffles to win rain barrels, smart controller systems, and other prizes. Over 300 attendees received information on water-wise landscaping, rainwater storage, and native plants.

To help make saving water more affordable, the City’s Residential Leak Assistance Rebate Program provided more than $54,000 in reimbursem*nts for 44 homeowners to repair plumbing leaks. The Department of Utilities also continued to partner with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to provide customers with instant rebates for a variety of WaterSense labeled products, including smart irrigation controllers, faucet aerators, showerheads, and a drip conversion kit. The City held a “River Friendly Landscape Virtual Office Hours” webinar for nearly 200 attendees to discuss their rebate programs and answer questions about turf conversion and irrigation efficiency upgrades.

Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District

Thanks to its long-standing dedication to water conservation, collaboration, WaterSense outreach, and water resources education, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District has earned its sixth Sustained Excellence Award. In 2022, the District celebrated the 10th anniversary of its annual Water Drop Dash as both an in-person 5k and virtual 10k race, and more than 700 runners participated! They held a post-race Water Festival outdoors, with many utility and community partners, where attendees learned about Fix a Leak Week and received free swag to help find, fix, and prevent leaks, including toilet flappers and a Flip Your Flapper infographic.

To promote Imagine a Day Without Water and WaterSense programs, the District partnered with the local Dad’s Garage Theatre Company for an evening of improv that featured water-saving information, materials, games, and comedy performed for 90 guests. In fact, the second half of the show had a panel of water experts talking about finding and fixing leaks, Shower Better, and other fun water conservation initiatives. Metro North Georgia partnered with the University of Georgia Extension and others to promote Smart Irrigation Month, drought- tolerant landscaping, and efficient irrigation systems.

To broaden its audience, the District contacted Metro Atlanta’s largest Spanish-speaking network, TelevisaUnivision, to assist in promoting its 2022 High School Video Contest with a Your Better Bathroom themeMetro North Georgia regularly distributes WaterSense campaign materials in Spanish to ensure all customers in the area receive important water-saving messages. The District also introduced a TikTok-style video category to their contest in 2022, allowing students to use the platform to create original videos about making their schools more water-efficient.

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District

After winning three Partner of the Year Awards, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District received its first Sustained Excellence Award for its achievements in outreach and collaboration. Northern Water collaborated with two nonprofits to facilitate direct-install programs, offering low- or no-cost toilet, showerhead, and faucet aerator replacements while the organizations provided labor, thereby expanding their reach and the use of water-saving fixtures. Through these partnerships, they collectively retrofitted 213 toilets, 355 showerheads, and 618 aerators with WaterSense labeled products, resulting in an estimated 5.1 million gallons of water savings.

“The WaterSense program, products, and people provide an ideal foundation to promote, facilitate, and celebrate water efficiency. The partnership between private industry, government, and nonprofits delivers sustained water savings and high performance, allowing comprehensive conservation of this vitally important resource on which we all rely.”

Frank Kinder, Water Efficiency and Sustainability Deptartment Manager

To help commercial customers save water, Northern Water performed 48 landscape consultations, inspecting landscape conditions and irrigation components, and recommending WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and sprinkler components to help improve efficiency. Northern Water also funded 11 projects through the Collaborative Water-Efficient Landscape (WEL) Grant Program, which specifically requires WaterSense labeled equipment be installed; the 11 projects funded from the 2023 WEL Grant program helped save more than seven million gallons of water.

At a Growing Water Smart Workshop, Northern Water hosted an inspector for WaterSense labeled homes who explained WaterSense and the WERSH20 rating system to the audience. Northern Water also met with a large regional builder, Hartford Homes, and encouraged them to construct WaterSense labeled homes as a path to achieve a potential water dedication reduction in the six cities in which they build.

Upper San Gabriel Valley (California) Municipal Water District

The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District in California has earned its second Sustained Excellence Award. The Upper District promoted numerous WaterSense outreach campaigns throughout 2022, including Fix a Leak Week, Save Water at Home, Bath Hacks, Shower Better, We’re for Water, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, and Find a Pro (certified in water-efficient irrigation). For Fix a Leak Week, Upper District hosted an on-demand, virtual leak detection workshop highlighting WaterSense labeled products.

Upper District hosted 15 live water-efficient landscape webinars in 2022, with over 400 participants, focused on best practices and devices for smart landscaping, irrigation, and gardening. To engage the public in water efficiency and raise awareness about WaterSense labeled products, Upper District brought back the annual WaterFest event; approximately 1,000 people participated in the event and were introduced to the WaterSense label through various booths andactivities.

For 2022, following the success of their Water Smart Home Program, Upper District revamped the program by introducing a Water Smart Home Kit containing replacement devices, WaterSense educational materials, a showerhead, shower start device, and toilet flapper. The kits and program were featured in a segment that aired on the local ABC News affiliate in May 2022 on the Upper District’s emergency call to action to reduce water use.

Fulton Homes

“As Arizona’s largest

family-owned and operated builder, we understand our unique responsibility to engineer water conservation into our homes and communities. Participation in the WaterSense program provides actionable steps to achieve these goals, while maintaining high quality standards and delighting our customers. ”

Doug Fulton, Chief Executive Officer, Fulton Homes

After being named a WaterSense Partner of the Year three times, Fulton Homes has earned its first Sustained Excellence Award. In 2022, Fulton built 796 homes designed to meet the WaterSense specification, and 92 percent of those earned the label. Fulton ensures that 100 percent of the homes they build contain WaterSense labeled products, along with ENERGY STAR appliances, smart irrigation controllers, and water recirculation and leak detection systems. Fulton puts the WaterSense “We Build” logo on outreach materials, website, social media, and banners in their communities.

Fulton Homes holds regular field meetings with plumbing contractors at various stages of the building process to ensure everyone involved understands the WaterSense program benefits, guidelines, and proper building practices. Fulton also schedules meetings with preferred landscape providers to ensure sensors are installed in their homes and within their communities.

As part of its collaboration efforts, Fulton holds quarterly meetings with home verifier Arcxis and works with local energy companies APS/SRP and Southwest Gas, as well as with municipalities, to encourage energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and WaterSense labeled homes. And to help promote the program to potential homeowners, Fulton has a WaterSense mark on every page of its website so viewers can get to its WaterSense page from anywhere on the site.

KB Home

KB Home extended their winning streak, earning a ninth WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award as the company continued to demonstrate its leadership position and dedication to building WaterSense® labeled homes. In 2022, 1,760 homes built by KB Home were WaterSense labeled, representing 13 percent of the homes they constructed that year. Additionally, 100 percent of KB homes incorporate WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures, and about 60 percent of the irrigation controllers they install are WaterSense labeled.

In July 2022, KB Home became the first national homebuilder to commit to EPA’s highest water efficiency standards in drought-stricken Arizona, California, and Nevada. To ensure the success of this initiative, the builder’s sustainability team conducted extensive outreach and provided comprehensive training and materials to each of its divisions, marketing teams, and home raters. KB Home also implemented a new internal tracking system to ensure their homes achieved the WaterSense labeled homes certification. KB Home promotes its WaterSense labeled homes in all forms of media, emphasizing the importance of water conservation. A 2021 water use study of KB Home’s WaterSense labeled homes in Las Vegas was published in the May 2022 issue of American Water Works Association’s Journal AWWA. KB Home also highlights WaterSense and water savings on its website and in social media, public relations, emails and collateral.

Kohler Co.

Kohler Co. won its ninth Sustained Excellence Award—its 14th overall WaterSense award—as it continued to produce, promote, and donate WaterSense labeled plumbing products. In 2022, Kohler introduced 24 new tank-type toilets, 42 new bathroom faucets, 16 new showerheads, and three new urinals that earned the WaterSense label.Based on results from the EPA’s WaterSense Partner Savings Calculator, the company estimates that its KOHLER, Sterling, and KALLISTA brand products saved an estimated 88 billion gallons of water, avoided two million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and helped customers save over $1.35 billion on water, sewer, and energy bills in 2022 alone!

To make it easier for customers to find water-saving products, Kohler partnered with 27 online retailers including Amazon, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s Home Improvement to provide information about WaterSense on its product pages. Additionally, many product displays and packaging in showrooms and retail outlets feature the WaterSense label. Kohler also created product sell sheets and product cards for use in Lowe’s Home Improvement, The Home Depot, and Costco stores across the United States and Canada to educate employees and consumers about WaterSense.

To collaborate with organizations around the globe, Kohler attended World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2022, and held a panel that highlighted water conservation and WaterSense labeled products as a way to reduce consumers’ environmental footprint. Kohler also donated WaterSense labeled toilets and showerheads to the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Long Beach (California) Water Affordability Initiative to provide water, energy, and natural gas savings with direct installs for homeowners who may not have the resources to upgrade to efficient appliances.

Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership

The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership in California won its seventh WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award for its outstanding work as a professional certifying organization (PCO). The Partnership offered virtual, in-person, and hybrid courses in 2022 for its Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) course and certified 766 professionals—200 more than were certified the previous year! In addition, over 1,400 professionals maintained their certifications in 2022 by meeting continuing education requirements.

The Partnership continued to work with colleges in the area to promote QWEL and outdoor water efficiency, including Santa Rosa Junior College, where they helped integrate QWEL curriculum into the

college’s landscape irrigation course. The Partnership also educated 25 students at the College of Marin about WaterSense labeled products and QWEL. To promote WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers online, the Partnership created four YouTube videos in both English and Spanish.

Two Partnership staff members were appointed to the Irrigation Association (IA) Landscape Advocacy Committee, which monitors current and proposed laws and regulations that could affect the landscape irrigation industry at the state, regional, and national levels. Additionally, a Partnership staff member became an instructor for the IA in 2022 and co-taught an Advanced Landscape Irrigation Design and Management course at the 2022 IA conference in Las Vegas.

2023 Partners of the Year

Harris-Galveston (Texas) Subsidence District

The Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (HGSD) in Texas has won its second Partner of the Year Award following another successful year of consistently promoting WaterSense and water efficiency. Using the WaterSense 2022 Editorial Calendar, HGSD spent the year sharing valuable water conservation tips, tools, and resources through its SmarterAboutWater.org website, blog, and social media channels, garnering over 11,000 impressions. The blog had over 3,000 readers and included several water efficiency themes, one of which educates children using WaterSense’s “Save Water at Home” coloring booklet.

In 2022, HGSD launched its new and improved school program, called H2O Lab!, providing third through sixth grade students in Harris, Galveston, and Fort Bend counties with water education and a free, take-home water conservation kit containing a toilet flapper, leak detection tablets, a toilet tank bag and fill cycle diverter, faucet aerators, a sprinkler gauge, a 5-minute shower timer, and a water flow rate bag. Each kit has the potential to save over 8,000 gallons of water per year and was provided to nearly 25,000 students and teachers fora combined estimated savings of over 215 million gallons of water per year.

HGSD’s water conservation grant program awarded $450,000 in matching funds spread across five projects to local entities last year. These projects included developing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), implementing water loss control focusing on leak detection on main water lines, and replacing showerhead fixtures using WaterSense labeled products. HGSD mentioned WaterSense resources and promotions during several speaking engagements throughout the year to local water utilities, schools, associations, forums, and even partnered with fellow WaterSense partner Houston Public Works during their Water Works Festival.

Houston Public Works (Texas)

Houston Public Works (HPW) promoted water efficiency across its service area and in other parts of Texas in 2022, winning its second Partner of the Year Award. In partnership with WaterSense partners in the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Round Rock, as well as Tarrant Regional Water District, HPW organized a virtual Fix a Leak Week workshop series with two half-day workshops—one indoors and one outdoors. Nearly 750 participants registered for this event, and the virtual trainings were watched an additional 242 times.

For commercial customers, in partnership with Imperial Utilities and Sustainability Inc., HPW was able to provide one year of free professional water, electricity, and gas utility assessments to nine buildings. HPW also collaborated with 15 of its wholesale utilitiesthrough the Wholesale Water Conservation Dashboard Program, which allows utilities to analyze costs and quantify potential savings for over 70 water conservation activities.

In collaboration with 53 Houston community centers, churches, temples, associations, health centers, and other organizations, HPW distributed water conservation tip cards that included WaterSense information. HPW promoted water conservation to students and youth through their summer outreach with scout camps, Houston Parks Department summer camps, and local STEM camps. HPW even hosted a water conservation education and showerhead giveaway at a local brewery!

Rancho California Water District

Rancho California Water District in California ramped up promotion of WaterSense and water conservation in 2022, earning its first Partner of the Year award! To promote WaterSense labeled products inside and outside the home, Rancho Water teamed with a Lowe’s Home Improvement store to create WaterSense outreach videos.One video, Creating a WaterSense Garden with Wade, shows the District’s mascot choosing WaterSense labeled products for a water-efficient landscape. Creating a Water-Wise Home with Lowe’s highlights WaterSense labeled bathroom faucets, toilets, and showerheads available to customers to upgrade their homes. The videos were shared on Rancho Water’s social media platforms and included in newsletters, e-blasts, and on the District’s website.

“Rancho Water continually strives to engage in activities and outreach programs which promote WaterSense labeled products, wateruse efficiency, and water sustainability. Our team is dedicated to creatingeffective campaigns that are fun and leverage partnership opportunities which resonate with customers.”

Robert Grantham, Rancho Water General Manager

To address outdoor water waste and encourage landscape transformations, the District created a new website, Temecula Murrieta In Bloom, which shows hundreds of climate-appropriate plants that thrive in the community’s semi-arid climate while supporting the natural ecosystem. Users can save their plant and design preferences and contact a local designer, contractor, or nursery listed on the site.Customers are also directed to the District’s rebates page to find eligible WaterSense labeled irrigation products.

To encourage customers to transition from a traditional irrigation timer to a WaterSense labeled weather-based model, Rancho Water provided free irrigation controllers to attendees at multiple events. The District collaborated with Rachio and the California Water Efficiency Program (CalWEP), offering discounted Rachio controllers for eligible customers and distributing over 200 devices.

Santa Clara Valley (California) Water District

Santa Clara Valley Water District in California (also known as Valley Water) won its first WaterSense Partner of the Year Award, thanks to its water-saving collaboration and outreach efforts. Valley Water offers programs that promote WaterSense labeled products such as their Landscape Rebate Program, Online Shopping Cart Program (eCart), and direct-install Fixture Replacement Program (Fix-RP). Valley Water’s eCart offers free, high-efficiency devices to Santa Clara County properties; in 2022 it facilitated distribution of over 9,000 WaterSense labeled showerheads and other resources to help conserve water indoors and outdoors.

Fix-RP replaces inefficient fixtures at qualifying multifamily residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional properties at no cost. Through this program, Valley Water replaced over 2,800 toilets, 800 faucet aerators, and 1,300 showerheads with WaterSense labeled models. Their landscape rebate program issued incentives for over 600 WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controllers and nearly 1,900 WaterSense labeled spray sprinkler bodies. To promote this program and other water conservation efforts, Valley Water offered virtual weekly “Office Hours,” which reached over 600 residents during 2022. Additionally, Valley Water offered a six-part webinar series on Zoom and Facebook Live featuring local experts in the landscape and irrigation industries on outdoor water efficiency, which were live translated in up to four languages.

In Spring 2022, Valley Water conducted a multilingual water conservation campaign, “Is Your Yard Drought Ready? Our rebates can help make the change,” and promoted it with digital ads, social media posts, videos, radio ads, and print advertorials in community newspapers. Valley Water also created animations displaying the WaterSense label on products such as smart irrigation controllers. Their Speakers Bureau Program provided drought information to community groups, service clubs, neighborhood associations, homeowners’ associations, libraries, senior centers, and city councils across Santa Clara County. At 38 community presentations, staff distributed WaterSense labeled products to more than 1,000 attendees in 2022.

Tarrant (Texas) Regional Water District

After winning a WaterSense Excellence Award for education and outreach in 2022, Tarrant (Texas) Regional Water District (TRWD) ramped up its water conservation promotion to win its first WaterSense Partner of the Year Award. Throughout 2022, TRWD promoted a variety of WaterSense campaigns, including Love Your Bathroom, Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Your Better Yard, and Smart Irrigation Month. To promote Shower Better, TRWD created a showerhead exchange program for three of the District’s customer cities: Arlington, Bedford (both WaterSense partners), and Burleson. Residents returned 172 old showerheads to their local water utility offices and received a WaterSense labeled showerhead in exchange.

To celebrate Fix a Leak Week in March, TRWD partnered with the City of Arlington (Texas) Water Utilities and Arlington Public Libraries to offer two in-person workshops focused on do-it-yourself (DIY) homeleak repair and DIY sprinkler repair, where participants learned from a certified plumber and a licensed irrigator about finding and fixing leaks in faucets, toilets, showers, and sprinklers. Participants also received an indoor leak or sprinkler test kit. In July 2022, TRWD offered two more workshops for Smart Irrigation Month, highlighting DIY sprinkler savings and sprinkler repair; over 150 people attended.

Using ideas from the WaterSense Partner Marketing Calendar, TRWD shared 36 posts on the Save Tarrant Water social media accounts about conserving water in 2022. TRWD helped people give the gift of water savings through its Water Conservation Holiday Conservation Gift Guide, which included ideas for indoor and outdoor gifts, including rain barrels, smart irrigation controllers, and WaterSense labeled faucet aerators. TRWD used the December 2022 edition of the Save Tarrant Water Monthly Drop e-newsletter to advertise the guide.

Vallecitos (California) Water District

Vallecitos Water District promoted water efficiency across its Southern California service area, winning its first Partner of the Year Award. The District leveraged its in-house video production to help promote water efficiency by creating educational videos for each of the 12 monthly themes in WaterSense’s Editorial Calendar, including Love Your Bathroom, Shower Better, World Toilet Day, and Water-Smart Landscapes. The District created a WaterSense web page that included WaterSense materials along with the videos. WaterSense was able to then share the videos for partners to use in their social media channels.

Vallecitos Water held a WaterSmart Landscape contest promoting water efficiency and rewarding customers who participated with a certificate to a local nursery. The District created a video highlighting the top three winners and showcasing their water-efficient landscapes. They also partnered with local agencies on videos about a new landscape optimization program and San Diego County’s Waterscape Rebate Program.

To further promote water conservation, the District participated in street fairs and other events throughout their service area, distributing WaterSense materials and native plants. Customers could receive a $25 gift card by taking the January pledge to save water and were provided rebate information on WaterSense labeled products.

Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership

The Sonoma-Marin Saving Water Partnership in California has won its second Partner of the Year Award, and seventh overall award for promoting WaterSense labeled products and water conservation. In 2022, the Partnership participated in several WaterSense campaigns, including Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, Smart Irrigation Month, and When in Drought with newspaper placements, social media, web banners, and WaterSense materials. To educate a wider audience, the Partnership translated many of its educational materials into Spanish.

“The WaterSense label makes it easy for our customers to choose water- efficient products for their homes, and our water conservation staff rely on the WaterSense campaigns like Fix a Leak Week for timely messages to help us meet our savings goals, especially during drought.”

Mike Healy, City of Petaluma Councilmember and Water Advisory Committee Chair for the Partnership

Throughout the summer, the Partnership held pop-ups at home improvement stores, farmers markets, nurseries, summer concerts, and other community events. For example, at an event in June, the Partnership partnered with five local hardware stores; staff educated customers about saving water and gave away WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators.

With California still facing prolonged drought conditions in 2022, the Partnership created a slogan, “The Drought is STILL Here,” to encourage California residents to maintain conservation efforts despite winter rains. For its annual Eco-Friendly Garden Tour, the Partnership created a video highlighting how to properly care for trees during droughts. To help people save on water-efficient irrigation products, the Partnership rebated over 300 WaterSense labeled smart irrigation controllers in 2022.

MANUFACTURER PARTNER OF THE YEAR

Niagara®

Niagara®, a manufacturer of WaterSense labeled toilets, has earned its seventh WaterSense award and second Partner of the Year Award! Messaging about WaterSense and water efficiency has been a cornerstone of Niagara’s advertising, marketing, and public relations campaigns for more than 13 years. To ensure that the more than 100 wholesalers and distributers that carry Niagara’s WaterSense labeled products across the United States are educated about their benefits, they must complete a training course that includes information about the WaterSense label and program. Niagara also works closely with industry organizations such as the American Institute of Architects and the American Society for Plumbing Engineers to promote WaterSense labeled products and program messaging through its continuing education courses and by attending and sponsoring their trade shows.

“We are honored to accept the WaterSense Partner of the Year Award. Our mission is to provide customerswith innovative technology that saves water without compromising performance. This recognition is a testament to our team’s dedication and a significant step in fulfilling our mission.”

Carl Wehmeyer, Executive Vice President, Niagara

Niagara has contributed directly to WaterSense program tools and improvements; for example, Niagara participated in beta testing and provided feedback as EPA developed the WaterSense Partner Savings Calculator—an online tool that allows manufacturers to estimate water savings from their products as a measure of their environmental, social, and governance goals.

Niagara encouraged its more than 16,000 social media followers to upgrade plumbing fixtures to WaterSense labeled models during Fix a Leak Week in 2022; they also promoted the WaterSense Rebate Finder.The company features a WaterSense page with labeled products on its corporate website, as well as on Niagara’s Pro website, and these pages describe Niagara’s dedication to and history with WaterSense. Niagara also reached professional customers by attending 26 trade shows in 2022, where staff promoted WaterSense at booths, in marketing collateral, and in conversations with attendees.

RETAILER PARTNER OF THE YEAR

The Home Depot

The Home Depot secured its third consecutive Partner of the Year Award and continued to help customers save water by making over 6,000 WaterSense labeled product models affordable and accessible in more than 2,000 stores across the country. The retailer ensured that 100 percent of the toilets, bathroom faucets, and showerheads sold in U.S. Home Depot stores were WaterSense labeled models. The Home Depot estimates that its customers’ purchases of WaterSense labeled products during its 2022 fiscal year helped reduce annual water consumption by over 33 billion gallons, which would collectively mean savings of more than $686 million on water bills.

To promote these products to customers, the retailer highlighted WaterSense in their in-store marketing, online ad campaigns, direct-to-customer emails, and infographics on its website. In calendar year 2022, The Home Depot placed over 62 million print ads featuring WaterSense labeled products. They also offered several virtual workshops on bathroom planning, kitchen planning, and how to install faucets and toilets. The workshops highlighted WaterSense labeled products and their water-saving benefits.

The Home Depot also worked with utilities to make over 500 local rebates available, offered instant rebates at over 760 stores and worked with the Texas government to promote tax-free weekendsfor ENERGY STAR appliances and WaterSense labeled products. The Home Depot ensures that its employees understand the savings and benefits of WaterSense labeled products by including information in their online training modules, a pocket guide for store associates, the retailer’s merchant handbook, and in a quarterly newsletter sent to all U.S. associates.

Big Bear Lake Department of Water and Power (California)

The City of Big Bear Lake (California) Department of Water and Power won an Excellence Award for Education and Outreach, its fourth WaterSense Award overall. The department helped educate the Big Bear Lake community with presentations on water conservation and WaterSense. Attendees at the presentations received free WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators. To promote Fix a Leak Week 2022, Big Bear Lake posted WaterSense graphics on Facebook and Twitter and held a raffle where residents who submitted a story about their indoor or outdoor leaks could win one of five water conservation kits. To help increase outdoor water efficiency awareness, Big Bear Lake reached out to landscapers and businesses that sell ornamental turf to promote both its turf buyback program and rebate program for WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers.

Irvine Ranch Water District (California)

Irvine Ranch (California) Water District (IRWD) won an Excellence Award for Education and Outreach, the District’s fifth WaterSense award, due to its water conservation promotion efforts. IRWD participated in several WaterSense campaigns in 2022, including Fix a Leak Week, Sprinkler Spruce-Up, and Your Better Yard. It hosted a virtual “Don’t Spring a Leak” workshop, which provided over 100 attendees with tips for saving water at home, and a Sprinkler Spruce-Up workshop on irrigation maintenance practices. Over 600 customers attended IRWD’s Better Yards by Design Expo to learn about the turf removal rebate program and sustainable landscape design tips. To encourage customers to save water during drought, the District created an interactive “How Do You Drought” social media campaign and sweepstakes to engage customers in a conversation about saving water. Overall, the month-long campaign secured 3.2 million impressions and over 19,000 engagements!

Kearns Improvement District (Utah)

Kearns Improvement District (KID) in Utah won its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Education and Outreach. To teach children about the importance of water conservation, Kearns contacted fourth grade teachers from local elementary schools to present media films, short clips, and facts about how to check and report water leaks to their classrooms.

Students who looked for leaks at home received a reward from Kearns, and 124 students participated in 2022! Each month, Kearns management attended Township and Community Council meetings to report on the progress of conservation efforts in the community. Kearns staff also participated in six community events and distributed information about WaterSense and available landscape conservation classes, grants, and water efficiency programs. Kearns also asked residents in the community to post signs in front yards thatshared water-wise and WaterSense conservation tips.

Monte Vista Water District (California)

Using social media and in-person education, Monte Vista Water District in Montclair, California, won its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Education and Outreach. For Fix a Leak Week 2022, the District hada social media campaign and invited Monte Vista customers to visit its lobby to receive promotional items, information about rebates on WaterSense labeled products, and a chance to win installation of a free WaterSense labeled toilet. MVWD also educated its customers with an in-person workshop, “Ready for Drought: Simple Ways to Save Water Inside & Outside Your Home.” Monte Vista also launched a social media campaign, Water Watch Wednesdays, to provide drought updates and tips to help its followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter save water inside and out.

EXCELLENCE IN PROMOTION AND OUTREACH

San Diego County (California) Water Authority

“Trainings in English and Spanish are among the most impactful strategies to help our community thrive in a changing climate. We thank WaterSense for its partnership and guidance as we advance water-saving practices.”

Mel Katz, Water Authority Board Chair

The San Diego County Water Authority won its fourth WaterSense Award, this time for Excellence in Promotion and Outreach. The Water Authority has offered the Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) certification program free of charge to people who live and work in the Water Authority’s service area since 2015. When COVIDrestricted in-person meetings, classes transitioned to virtual to keep the program active. This also provided new flexibility for those unable to attend in-person classes. In 2022, nearly 300 new participants were certified through the program. Fifty percent of their QWEL certified individuals attended webinars to renew their certifications, and after conducting more than 25 in-person and online exams, there were nearly 460 certified participants for the year. To reach San Diego’s Spanish- speaking residents, the Water Authority recruited and trained bilingual instructors and offered virtual training in Spanish, attended by more than 40 new participants. The Water Authority’s Irrigation System Auditing video, available with English and Spanish captions, received over 700 views in 2022.

EXCELLENCE IN ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH

The Toro Company

The Toro Company has won its ninth WaterSense Award, for Excellence in Engagement and Outreach. To engage contractors, The Toro Company supported nearly 40 training events in 2022 and promoted WaterSense via catalogs, sell sheets, trade shows, online, press releases, social media, and its “Take Five” newsletter distributed to over 3,500 professionals. With the help of a student at Texas A&M University, The Toro Company began collecting data in the region on soil moisture variability and irrigation scheduling for turf applications. Toro also began a new project at the University of Minnesota’s Turfgrass Research, Outreach, and Education Center to evaluate thresholds for sensor-based irrigation scheduling to reduce water use while preserving turf quality. Company representatives attended several local events at schools and in the community to educate the public on water conservation and the benefits of WaterSense labeled products.

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND PROMOTING WATERSENSE LABELED PRODUCTS

Sacramento Suburban Water District (California)

The Sacramento (California) Suburban Water District (SSWD) earned its second WaterSense Award for Excellence in Education, Outreach, and Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. Throughout 2022, SSWD participated in a WaterSense promotional campaign every month! To kick the year off, the district put the “I’m For Water” pledge in its January bill insert distributed to 40,000 customers. For Mulch Mayhem, SSWD held an open house that 150 customers attended, gave away 60 yards of mulch, and staffed a booth focused on water conservation and WaterSense, where they raffled off a WaterSense labeled weather- based irrigation controller. In 2022, SSWD processed rebates for 35 WaterSense labeled toilets, 45 labeled weather-based irrigation controllers, and 27 irrigation system upgrades. SSWD also sent over 10,000 postcards that generated more than 200 leak investigations and resulted in 50 leak repair rebates, saving over 90 million gallons of water per year.

Cobb County (Georgia) Water System

Cobb County (Georgia) Water System earned an Excellence Award for Education, Outreach, and Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products—its 12th WaterSense Award overall! To help customers better understand their water use, Cobb County partnered with Flume, a company that makes smart home water monitors and leak detector devices, and provided a $100 bill credit rebate to their customers who purchased and installed a device in their homes. To celebrate Fix a Leak Week in 2022, Cobb County hosted a give-away event to distribute pressure gauges, educational materials, leak detector dye tablets, and plumber’s tape. Approximately 100 customers received the water-saving packages during Fix a Leak Week 2022. Cobb County also hosted a virtual lunch-and-learn on “How to Become a Leak Detective,” focused on finding and repairing common and sneaky leaks throughout the home and in the yard. To engage customers who come to its office, Cobb County created an interactive, Jeopardy-style display using questions about water-efficient practices; one month focused on WaterSense’s Shower Better campaign.

Department of Water, County of Kaua‘i (Hawaii)

The Department of Water, County of Kaua‘i (Hawaii) won its third WaterSense honor, an Excellence Award for Education, Outreach, and Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. Throughout 2022, the Department participated in numerous WaterSense outreach efforts including Fix a Leak Week, Flip Your Flapper, Your Better Bathroom, and Shower Better, and hosted several in-person events in the County of Kaua‘i. To help broaden their reach during Fix a Leak Week, the Department helped to promote several of WaterSense’s YouTube videos describing leak detection, how to install an aerator, and how to change a showerhead. The local promotion helped to highlight and educate their customers online and in person. The Department also partnered with the locally owned Tanaka Hardware Store to set-up a Fix a Leak Week display and together, they distributed more than 1,000 leak detection kits and toilet dye tablets in the community, exceeding their campaign outreach goal. Later in the year, as part of their Your Better Bathroom campaign, they displayed a WaterSense labeled toilet in their lobby, which was donated by a local Ferguson Facilities Supply outlet.

EXCELLENCE IN PROMOTING WATERSENSE LABELED PRODUCTS

Alameda County (California) Water District

“We appreciate the simplicity of pointing our customers toward devices and fixtures that

are fully vetted through the WaterSense program, and we rest easy knowing that our customers are receiving high-performing equipment that supports our water savings goals.”

Stephanie Nevins, District Water Use Efficiency Supervisor

Alameda County (California) Water District won its second WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. In 2022, the District offered seven water efficiency programs that encouraged residential and commercial customers to switch to WaterSense labeled products, including rebates for WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and toilets and free water conservation kits.The District partnered with Pacific Gas & Electric on a Water Savings Assistance Partnership Program (WSAPP), which provides income- qualified customers with free home water assessments, conservation education, direct installs, and toilet retrofits. In 2022, the program expanded the number of WaterSense labeled bathroom faucets that were eligible for installation through the program to accommodate the diverse types of sinks found in customers’ homes. The toilets installed through WSAPP in 2022 alone are estimated to save over 11 million gallons of water over a 30-year period. Thanks to these efforts, over 4,300 WaterSense labeled products were rebated or provided to District customers in 2022—an increase of more than 3,000 products since 2021.

California Water Service Company

California Water Service (Cal Water) earned its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. To support its customers’ efforts, Cal Water made it easy for customers to save water and money by offering rebates and direct installations of WaterSense labeled toilets, weather-based irrigation controllers, and spray sprinkler bodies. To incentivize customers to be more water- efficient during periods of drought, Cal Water’s toilet rebate amounts were increased to $150 for residential customers and to $400 for commercial customers. In 2022, Cal Water provided rebates and direct installations for 240 toilets, more than 1,600 weather-based irrigation controllers, and over 8,000 spray sprinkler bodies. Cal Water also provided nearly 7,500 free water conservation kits with WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators, along with toiletleak detection dye tablets and hose nozzles. WaterSense labeled devices installed through Cal Water’s Conservation Program last year will save 579 million gallons of water over the lifetime of the devices.

City of Flagstaff (Arizona) Water Conservation Program

The City of Flagstaff (Arizona) has won its second WaterSense Award, for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. In 2022, the City conducted 53 public outreach events reaching over 4,000 people, where they provided free WaterSense labeled showerheads and aerators and educated stakeholders about WaterSense. Through these events, mailings, home water consultations, and other programs, Flagstaff distributed over 450 showerheads and more than 1,200 aerators. To help customers reduce water use at home, the City offers free Home Water Check-up Kits, which include instructions for checking plumbing fixtures for leaks, a WaterSense labeled faucet aerator, and materials to encourage residents to replace inefficient fixtures with WaterSense labeled models. The City’s Water Conservation Program Manager spoke to the Flagstaff City Council in 2022 about Flagstaff’s WaterSense partnership and previewed a new code proposal that would require all newly installed showerheads, aerators, and toilets to be WaterSense labeled.

City of Tucson (Arizona)/Tucson Water

The City of Tucson (Arizona)/Tucson Water received their first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. In 2022, Tucson Water launched its Responsible Desert Dweller campaign to encourage residents to save water and share how the City is preparing for the future of water conservation. The campaign recommends replacing plumbing fixtures with WaterSense labeled products. To make them more accessible to customers, Tucson Water provided over 2,500 rebates for WaterSense labeled toilets, including over 500 direct installations. Tucson Water also sent water conservation kits by request to nearly 2,500 customers with WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators, shower timers, rain gauges, and drip irrigation repair kits. To help the City promote long-term water savings, Tucson Water staff helped draft an ordinance requiring both residential and commercial new construction to install WaterSense labeled fixtures.

Marin Municipal Water District (California)

Marin (California) Municipal Water District earned its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. In 2022, Marin Water relaunched its Conservation Assistance Program (CAP) to help customers take control of their water use, find leaks, and improve water efficiency indoors and out; participants received free WaterSense labeled showerheads and aerators. Marin Water staff made over 380 site visits in 2022. Marin Water continued to collaborate with Marin Master Gardeners, promoting their irrigation controller rebate to customers participating in its popular Garden Walk Program. The WaterSense labeled controller rebate was also promoted through social media marketing campaigns, customer bill inserts, and e-news blasts. They rebated over 130 irrigation controllers and nearly 70 WaterSense labeled toilets in 2022.

Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)

The Metropolitan Council in the Twin Cities metropolitan region of Minnesota earned its second WaterSense Excellence Award, this year for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. The Metropolitan Council’s Water Efficiency Grant Program promoted WaterSense labeled products and funded the replacement of toilets, irrigation controllers, and spray sprinkler bodies with WaterSense labeled models. The grant program also required irrigation audits conducted through the program to be performed by professionals certified by a WaterSense labeled certification program. Nearly $300,000 of grant funding was awarded in 2022. The Metropolitan Council’s Irrigation Efficiency Educational Trailer, also known as the Turfgrass Trailer, promoted WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and visited 14 neighborhoods, fairs and events, including the Minnesota State Fair.

San Dieguito Water District (California)

Winning its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products, San Dieguito (California) Water District helped customers save water, energy, and money with WaterSense labeled plumbing and irrigation fixtures. To encourage customers to expand their water conservation efforts during drought season, the District distributed drought kits, which included information on WaterSense labeled products, at the City of Encinitas’ EcoFest. The District gave multiple presentations to local community organizations about the drought and actions to save water, including installing WaterSense labeled products and using a QWEL certified landscape professional to increase outdoor irrigation efficiency. The District also participates in the SoCal WaterSmart rebate program for turf removal, WaterSense labeled toilets, WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controllers, and other water-saving fixtures to help their customers save water at home.

Tampa Bay (Florida) Water

Due to its commitment to making water efficiency more affordable with WaterSense labeled plumbing and irrigation fixture incentives, Tampa Bay (Florida) Water won its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products. Tampa Bay Water offered rebates on a variety of WaterSense labeled products, including toilets, faucet aerators, showerheads, and weather-based irrigation controllers. Over 3,400 WaterSense labeled products were rebated in 2022 and are helping families and multi-family property owners save nearly 34 million gallons of water annually! Some of those old toilets were recycled into reef balls as part of a pilot program to restore oyster habitats. Tampa Bay Water provided free installations of WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation controllers or rebates up to $250 for the purchase and professional installation of a labeled irrigation controller. They also worked with WaterSense partners The Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement to obtain corporate permission to put up signs and stickers in nearly 40 stores’ aisles and on the products for which Tampa Bay Water offers rebates.

Utah Division of Water Resources

“Water conservation is critical to building drought resiliency and ensuring a reliable water supply. We are dedicated to growing our programs and promoting WaterSense products to our residents.”

Candice Hasenyager, Director

The Utah Division of Water Resources (UDWR) earned its first WaterSense Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense as it helped put water-efficient devices in the hands of more customers and businesses in Utah. UDWR’s state-wide rebate program provides incentives for WaterSense labeled toilets and weather-based irrigation controllers. In 2022, customers received rebates on nearly 900 toilets and over 3,500 controllers. Since the launch of their irrigation controller rebate program in 2018 and toilet rebate program in 2019, UDWR has helped consumers save an estimated 342.4 million gallons of water by switching to WaterSense labeled products. Part of what makes this program a success is that, due to collaboration among UDWR and the Central Utah, Jordan Valley, Weber Basin, and Washington County water conservancy districts, statewide rebates are available through one online portal—UtahWaterSavers.com. To further increase awareness of WaterSense, UDWR supports the Utah Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) certification program, by encouraging participation from industry professionals, recommending homeowners hire QWEL certified professionals, and encouraging landscape irrigation audits offered throughout the state by districts, municipalities, and Utah State University’s Water Check Program.

EXCELLENCE IN PROMOTING WATERSENSE LABELED PRODUCTS IN THE MARKETPLACE

Smart Rain

Smart Rain ramped up its promotional efforts in 2022, winning its second Excellence Award for Excellence in Promoting WaterSense Labeled Products in the Marketplace. The Smart Rain Foundation launched a new Smart Rain for Smart Kids program for public K-12 schools nationwide, encouraging school districts to save water and money with WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers. Smart Rain spoke to school district administrators and directors from around the country to promote its WaterSense labeled products. Since 100 percent of Smart Rain’s irrigation controllers have earned the WaterSense label, staff promoted them at more than 70 trade shows. They also sent nearly 30 emails to customers, held about 40 virtual demonstrations per week, and conducted more than 200 trainings for professionals.

EXCELLENCE IN INCREASING THE VISIBILITY OF WATERSENSE LABELED PRODUCTS

Hunter Industries

Hunter Industries has won its third WaterSense Award, an Excellence Award for Increasing the Visibility of WaterSense Labeled Products. In 2022, Hunter added two new models to its suite of WaterSense labeled products, bringing its total to 12 labeled spray sprinkler bodies and 54 irrigation controllers. To promote the WaterSense Labeled Homes Program, Hunter worked with EPA to create a 16-minute video for developers and others on its website and YouTube channel. To accompany the video, Hunter emailed a quiz to customers with a chance to participate in a rewards program. The quiz was taken by over 230 people! In 2022, Hunter hosted over 1,600 customers at its headquarters and manufacturing facilities in San Marcos, California, and promoted WaterSense labeled products as part of an efficient irrigation system. Hunter also donated these products and funds to students at the University of California Davis’ California Center of Urban Horticulture SmartLandscape program for testing water consumption of varying turf species.

EXCELLENCE IN STRATEGIC COLLABORATION

Alliance for Water Efficiency

“AWE is proud to partner with the team at WaterSense to advance water efficiency and labeled products across the U.S. We are grateful to receive this award and look forward to many more years of impactful partnership.”

Ron Burke, AWE President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks to its continued work with others committed to saving water, the Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) has won its sixth WaterSense Excellence Award for Strategic Collaboration. With over 500 members, AWE is dedicated to promoting the efficient and sustainable use of water across North America. AWE championed WaterSense’s work through myriad activities. AWE hosts the WaterSense and Water- Efficient Products Committee, which met five times in 2022, and the Water Efficiency Research Committee, which discussed research to promote WaterSense labeled products and conservation messaging. AWE also held a forum to discuss the WaterSense reverse osmosis draft specification and spray sprinkler nozzles and regularly comments on Notices of Intent and other draft specifications for EPA. Additionally, AWE partners with WaterSense each year to host free webinars for the public focused on outdoor water use. Together in 2022, they hosted three webinars attended by 500 participants.

American Water

American Water has earned its second WaterSense Award, an Excellence Award for Strategic Collaboration, as the company worked with other organizations to educate customers how to save water and conduct water efficiency research. In California, American Water partnered with G3, Green Gardens Group, to conduct 24 webinars for nearly 3,000 attendees focused on a watershed approach to landscaping that includes efficient watering techniques. Representatives from American Water also participated in research and on committees to promote WaterSense labeling, program adoption, and overall water efficiency, including research with the Alliance for Water Efficiency on peak demand water. American Water worked with WaterSense to provide water efficiency education and information to its large manufacturer accounts.

G3, Green Gardens Group (Los Angeles)

Green Gardens Group, Los Angeles (G3LA) has won its fourth WaterSense Award, this time for Excellence in Strategic Collaboration, by working with partners in California and beyond to promote water-efficient irrigation professional certification. In 2022, G3LA collaborated with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (SoCal) and SoCalGas to provide two-hour professional workshops on outdoor irrigation efficiency for over 150 registrants, along with 220 classes and workshops for property owners and water conservation staff in California. Branching out beyond the state, G3LA also collaborated with irrigation professionals to launch an online certification program through its new Watershed Wise Training website, allowing people across the United States to become certified Irrigation System Auditors. G3LA gave 16 professionals free access to the class in exchange for their technical input on the program, and seven of those professionals were certified in 2022.

EXCELLENCE IN PROMOTING THE EPA MULTIFAMILY WATER SCORE

SCV Water (Santa Clarita Valley, California)

Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) Water Agency in California has won its fourth WaterSense Excellence Award in a row for promoting the EPA Multifamily Water Score. Since its Multifamily Apartment Water Efficiency Program started in 2018, SCV Water has evaluated and scored approximately 90 percent of the multi-family buildings in its

service territory using the EPA Multifamily Water Score. Based on the Water Score analysis, SCV Water targeted properties where the most water savings could be achieved. In 2022, they visited eight customer apartment complexes—with a total of more than 2,800 units—to install WaterSense labeled products, conduct leak detection, and share good water management practices.

SCV Water installed over 8,500 WaterSense labeled showerheads and faucet aerators and provided rebates for 470 premium high-efficiency toilets for one of the apartment complexes. Inspectors also audited 845 irrigation zones, providing pressure regulation, drip conservation for non-turf landscapes, turf conversion, and high-efficiency sprinkler nozzles. The program resulted in savings of 75 million gallons of water in 2022 and has saved over 214 million gallons since the program started in 2018!

EXCELLENCE IN CERTIFICATION PROGRAM GROWTH

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California won its first WaterSense Excellence Award for Excellence in Certification Program Growth. MWD partnered with the California Landscape Contractors’ Association (CLCA) to offer a dual certification course that combines QWEL and the CLCA’s Certified Water Manager Program for landscapers. By offering the combined curriculum, audit, and exam, MWD has created a unique program combining two WaterSense labeled certifications and is accelerating water-efficient landscape training for industry professionals. By partnering with CLCA, MWD reached a larger audience, including small landscaping companies and individual landscape contractors, as well as larger, regional companies. More than 3,700 irrigation professionals received marketing emails from CLCA promoting the course. To date, participation in this three-year-old program has doubled each year, and MWD has certified 270 landscape professionals. MWD promotes the program on bewaterwise.com and lists currently certified professionals online for customers.