As we all know, California is facing persistent drought. Rather than relying on behavior change alone, the HERO Program’s water-saving retrofits make it easy and affordable for homeowners to save water and lower water bills considerably.
In addition to water-saving upgrades like artificial turf and drought-resistant landscaping, did you know that WaterSense label high-efficiency plumbing fixtures are also offered by the HERO Program? Although they must be part of a larger total HERO project, upgrading to WaterSense toilet, faucet, and showerhead fixtures is a no-brainer for several reasons.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has partnered with WaterSense, each American uses an average of 100 gallons of water a day at home, and the average household spends as much as $500 per year on their water and sewer bill. By installing water-efficient fixtures and appliances, we can all use 30 percent less water and save about $170 per year.
Let’s take a closer look at the WaterSense fixtures offered by HERO and explore ways on reducing water usage at home:
High-efficiency Faucets
WaterSense faucets and faucet accessories can be easily attached to existing faucets, providing ample flow without sacrificing performance. Compared to a standard flow of 2.2 gallons per minute, high-efficiency faucet fittings use a maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute, reducing a sink’s water flow by 30 percent or more.
If every home in the United States replaced existing faucets and aerators with WaterSense labeled models, we could save nearly $1.2 billion in water and energy costs and 64 billion gallons of water across the country annually – equivalent to the annual household water needs of more than 680,000 American homes!
High-efficiency Showerheads
WaterSense high-efficiency showerhead products provide a satisfactory shower that is equal to or better than conventional showerheads on the market. While standard showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute (gpm), high-efficiency showerheads use no more than 2.0 gpm. This could save the average California household up to 13,000 gallons of water per year!
Since water savings reduces demands on water heaters, the average family could also save more than 370 kilowatt hours of electricity annually by replacing their conventional showerheads with high efficiency ones. That is enough to power a house for 13 days! On a national scale, if every home installed WaterSense showerheads, we could save more than $2.2 billion in water utility bills, 260 billion gallons of water, and $2.6 billion in energy costs for heating water.
High-efficiency Toilet Fixtures
HERO’s WaterSense toilets use less than 1.28 gallons per flush, compared to toilets from 1992 or earlier, which use at least 3.5 gallons per flush. This equates to saving a family of four more than 16,000 gallons of water and $90 or more annually on their water bill – that’s $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet!
In addition, older toilets may leak from the tank into the bowl and can waste up to 200 gallons per day.
Let’s Save Some Water!
Learn more about HERO’s WaterSense faucets, showerheads, and toilet fixtures and find out if there are any other incentives or rebates available for this product in your area.
These WaterSense upgrades can be added onto HERO’s other water-saving home retrofits, which include artificial turf, drought-resistant landscaping, drip irrigation, rotating sprinkler nozzles, weather-based irrigation control systems, and water capture systems including whole-home graywater reuse and rain catchment systems. (All can be found on HERO’s products page).
Which water-saving upgrades will you make using the HERO Program?
