Home Builders Join WaterSense Program to Construct Water-Efficient Homes

The WaterSense label is homeward bound. Soon new homebuyers will be able to identify water-efficient homes just by looking for the WaterSense label.

Seven builders from across the country will help EPA demonstrate its draft new homes labeling specification by building about 50 homes to meet the WaterSense new home draft water-efficiency criteria. Each builder will construct at least one home to the draft specification by December 2008 and provide feedback to help inform the specification and inspection process. Once the spec is finalized, EPA will invite builders around the country to join WaterSense and construct WaterSense labeled new homes.

Homes built during this pilot will be designed to save water inside and out. They will include WaterSense labeled toilets and faucets, ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washers and dishwashers, and efficient plumbing systems, landscape design, and irrigation systems (if included in the new home package). Homeowner education is another important part of the new homes program. Builders must develop and provide homeowners with a manual that explains proper use of all water-using equipment or controls in the house and yard.

Builders and homeowners in the arid Southwest face water-efficiency challenges different from those in, say, the Northeast. That’s why EPA selected builders from a variety of climates to participate in the pilot:

Anderson Homes—Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Aspen Homes of Colorado—Windsor, Colorado
Cleantech Homes—Beverly, Massachusetts
Dorn Homes—Tubac, Arizona
GreenLife Homes LLC—West Olive, Michigan
Nappier & Turner Construction Co., Inc.—Hendersonville, North Carolina
Tim O’Brien Homes, Inc.—Waukesha, Wisconsin

EPA expects homes built to the draft standard to be about 20 percent more efficient than similar new homes, saving approximately 10,000 gallons of water per year. That’s enough to make buyers in today’s market click their heels and say, “There’s no place like a WaterSense labeled home.”