EPA's WaterSense points to accomplishments

On the fifth anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense program, organizers say the system has saved 125 billion gallons of water. That’s equal to three days’ flow of water over Niagara Falls.

Over the last five years, WaterSense labeled products have also helped users reduce their water and energy bills by more than $2 billion, avoid greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing 1.2 million cars from the road, and save enough energy to power more than 1.5 million American homes for a year.

In 2010 alone, WaterSense pointed to annual savings of:

• Almost 80 billion gallons of water;

• 10.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity; and

• $1.3 billion in water and energy bill savings.

With the release of a shower head specification in 2010, the full suite of WaterSense-labeled bathroom products -- toilet, faucet, shower head -- is now complete, according to the EPA's WaterSense Current newsletter. A household updating its bathroom with WaterSense-labeled fixtures could save enough water each year to wash six months’ worth of laundry.