Both the Senate and House Appropriations committees have directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue funding the highly successful WaterSense® program, a voluntary public-private partnership that has saved American consumers more than $46 billion on their water and energy bills since 2006.
While neither the Senate nor House bills contain specific funds for WaterSense, the Senate committee instructed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to continue the program at its current funding levels, and the House committee report simply directs "continued funding." These instructions from the committees are crucial for the continuation of WaterSense at least through September, 2019.
AWE has been closely following the progress toward WaterSense funding and advocating for full congressional authorization of the program.
CWWA and our Water Efficiency Committee have followed the fate of the WaterSense program carefully, and have provided letters of support to the AWE efforts to save the program. The program is not funded in Canada, however, since most plumbing products are sold in both Canada and the United States, Canadian consumers benefit from the program continuing in the United States.
Canadian Water and Wastewater Association