II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1700 

To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to establish a WaterSense 

program within the Enivronmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2017 

Mr. UDALL (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. PETERS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. BROWN, Mr. FRANKEN, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. 

ALEXANDER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to establish a WaterSense program within the Enivronmental 

Protection Agency, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Efficiency Im5 provement Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WATERSENSE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title III of the Energy 

8 Policy and Conservation Act is amended by adding after 

9 section 324A (42 U.S.C. 6294a) the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 324B. WATERSENSE. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF WATERSENSE PRO3 GRAM.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 

5 the Environmental Protection Agency a voluntary 

6 WaterSense program to identify and promote water7 efficient products, buildings and building landscapes, 

8 facilities, processes, and services that, through vol9 untary labeling of, or other forms of communications 

10 regarding, products, buildings and building land11 scapes, facilities, processes, and services while meet12 ing strict performance criteria, sensibly— 

13 ‘‘(A) reduce water use; 

14 ‘‘(B) reduce the strain on public and com15 munity water systems and wastewater and 

16 stormwater infrastructure; 

17 ‘‘(C) conserve energy used to pump, heat, 

18 transport, and treat water; and 

19 ‘‘(D) preserve water resources for future 

20 generations. 

21 ‘‘(2) INCLUSIONS.—The Administrator of the 

22 Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in 

23 this section as the ‘Administrator’) shall, consistent 

24 with this section, identify water-efficient products, 

25 buildings and building landscapes, facilities, proc26 esses, and services, including categories such as— 


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1 ‘‘(A) irrigation technologies and services; 

2 ‘‘(B) point-of-use water treatment devices; 

3 ‘‘(C) plumbing products; 

4 ‘‘(D) reuse and recycling technologies; 

5 ‘‘(E) landscaping and gardening products, 

6 including moisture control or water-enhancing 

7 technologies; 

8 ‘‘(F) whole house humidifiers; and 

9 ‘‘(G) water-efficient buildings or facilities, 

10 and building or facility landscapes. 

11 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Administrator, coordinating as 

12 appropriate with the Secretary, shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) establish— 

14 ‘‘(A) a WaterSense label to be used for 

15 items meeting the certification criteria estab16 lished in accordance with this section; and 

17 ‘‘(B) the procedure, including the methods 

18 and means, and criteria by which an item may 

19 be certified to display the WaterSense label, 

20 minimizing unintended or negative impacts to 

21 wastewater treatment works, recycled water 

22 quality, or water quality in receiving water; 

23 ‘‘(2) enhance public awareness regarding the 

24 WaterSense label through outreach, education, and 

25 other means; 


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1 ‘‘(3) preserve the integrity of the WaterSense 

2 label by— 

3 ‘‘(A) establishing and maintaining feasible 

4 performance criteria so that products, buildings 

5 and building landscapes, facilities, processes, 

6 and services labeled with the WaterSense label 

7 perform as well or better than less water-effi8 cient counterparts; 

9 ‘‘(B) overseeing WaterSense certifications 

10 made by third parties; 

11 ‘‘(C) as determined appropriate by the Ad12 ministrator, using testing protocols, from the 

13 appropriate, applicable, and relevant consensus 

14 standards, for the purpose of determining 

15 standards compliance; and 

16 ‘‘(D) auditing the use of the WaterSense 

17 label in the marketplace and preventing cases of 

18 misuse; 

19 ‘‘(4) not more often than 6 years but not less 

20 often than 10 years after adoption or major revision 

21 of any WaterSense specification, review and, if ap22 propriate, revise the specification to achieve addi23 tional water savings; 

24 ‘‘(5) in revising a WaterSense specification— 


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1 ‘‘(A) provide reasonable notice to inter2 ested parties and the public of any changes, in3 cluding effective dates, and an explanation of 

4 the changes; 

5 ‘‘(B) solicit comments from interested par6 ties and the public prior to any changes; 

7 ‘‘(C) as appropriate, respond to comments 

8 submitted by interested parties and the public; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(D) provide an appropriate transition 

11 time prior to the applicable effective date of any 

12 changes, taking into account the timing nec13 essary for the manufacture, marketing, train14 ing, and distribution of the specific water-effi15 cient product, building and building landscape, 

16 process, or service category being addressed; 

17 ‘‘(6) use, to the extent that an agency action is 

18 based on science— 

19 ‘‘(A) the best available peer-reviewed 

20 science and supporting studies conducted in ac21 cordance with sound and objective scientific 

22 practices; and 

23 ‘‘(B) data collected by accepted methods or 

24 best available methods (if the reliability of the 


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1 method and the nature of the decision justifies 

2 use of the data); and 

3 ‘‘(7) not later than December 31, 2022, con4 sider for review and revision any WaterSense speci5 fication adopted before January 1, 2012. 

6 ‘‘(c) TRANSPARENCY.—The Administrator shall, to 

7 the maximum extent practicable and not less than annu8 ally, regularly estimate and make available to the public 

9 the estimate aggregate production, aggregate market pen10 etration, and savings of water, energy, and capital costs 

11 of water, wastewater, and stormwater attributable to the 

12 use of WaterSense-labeled products, buildings and build13 ing landscapes, facilities, processes, and services. 

14 ‘‘(d) DISTINCTION OF AUTHORITIES.—In setting or 

15 maintaining specifications for Energy Star pursuant to 

16 section 324A, and WaterSense under this section, the Sec17 retary and Administrator shall coordinate to prevent du18 plicative or conflicting requirements among the respective 

19 programs. 

20 ‘‘(e) NO WARRANTY.—A WaterSense label shall not 

21 create an express or implied warranty.’’. 

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con23 tents for the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 


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1 U.S.C. prec. 6201) is amended by inserting after the item 

2 relating to section 324A the following: 

‘‘Sec. 324B. WaterSense.’’. 

Æ 


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