EPA and WQA Partner to Establish WaterSense for POU/POE Products

The Water Quality Association (WQA) is working with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help make point-of-use/point-of-entry (POU/POE) products a part of the agency’s WaterSense program.

WaterSense is a public-private partnership designed to protect the future of the nation’s water supply by promoting and enhancing the market for water-efficient products and programs. Among requirements for earning the WaterSense label, products must:

• Realize water savings on a national basis;
• Perform as well as or better than their less-efficient counterparts, assuming proper installation and operation;
• Achieve water efficiency through several technology options, at least one of which is nonproprietary;
• Effectively be differentiated by a visible label. Typically, the specification is set to label products that are at least 20 percent more efficient than their less-efficient counterparts;
• Be independently certified by a third party to confirm that the product meets EPA criteria for efficiency and performance;
• Provide measurable results, quantifiable in terms of water saved compared to less-efficient models, as well as level of desired performance achieved;

WQA will partner with the Agency to help establish water efficiency standards. With similar standards already in place, WQA hopes that those guidelines could be incorporated into the WaterSense program.