INTERNATIONAL NEWS
9
US EPA updates WaterSense®
specification for shower heads
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published
Version 1.1 of its WaterSense® shower head specification, reflecting
recent revisions in applicable standards and enabling rain shower
manufacturers to obtain the label for their suitably efficient products.
By IAPMO
“We are pleased EPA has issued this revision and look
forward to assisting rain shower manufacturers in
obtaining WaterSense certification for this popular, but
not previously eligible, line of shower heads,” says Jin
Luo, executive vice-president with IAPMO R&T.
qualified third-party certification body such as IAPMO
R&T, which is accredited by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) as a provider of certification
services to WaterSense specifications.
IAPMO R&T is happy to assist any manufacturer wishing
to better understand the new specification and learn how
to achieve compliance. PA
For more information or assistance, email
[email protected]
The United States
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has
published Version 1.1 of
its WaterSense® shower
head specification.
The specification has been revised to directly
reference ASME A112.18.1/CSA B125.1 where these
standards underwent minor revisions concerning
testing procedures and marking requirements.
The new shower head specification further updates
the spray force test protocol to accommodate rain
showers, which were not previously included,
and clarifies product packaging requirements for
WaterSense-labeled shower heads, according to EPA.
Currently labelled shower heads are unaffected by
this revision; it merely seeks to ensure that future
shower heads certified as meeting the WaterSense
requirements continue to meet EPA’s criteria for
efficiency and performance.
The new specification replaces Version 1.0, which
EPA released in March 2010, and can be viewed
in its entirety at https://www.epa.gov/watersense/
showerheads#tab-3. IAPMO R&T has been a licensed
provider of WaterSense certification since 2007,
certifying the first high-efficiency toilet (HET) to the
standard in April of that year.
To date, IAPMO R&T has certified thousands of lavatory
faucet, toilet, urinal, shower head, and weather-
based irrigation controller models to the WaterSense
specifications. Products bearing the WaterSense label
must not only save water, but also perform as well or
better than conventional models on the market.
Manufacturers wishing to have their shower heads
identified as complying with the WaterSense
specification, must have them certified as such by a
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September 2018 Volume 24 I Number 7