EPA WaterSense Awards For Toro, Hunter Industries

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

The U.S. EPA announced its 2018 WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award winners, Partners of the Year, and Excellence Award winners at the recently held WaterSense and Alliance for Water Efficiency Awards Luncheon in Las Vegas. WaterSense recognizes nine Sustained Excellence Award winners, four WaterSense Partners of the Year, and eight Excellence Award winners for helping to advance and promote WaterSense and water efficiency throughout 2017. Since this EPA program began in 2006, WaterSense labeled products have helped Americans save 2.7 trillion gallons of water and $63.8 billion in water and energy bills. In 2017 alone, WaterSense labeled products saved 631 billion gallons of water.water efficiency

Two manufacturers, Toro and Hunter Industries, have been recognized this year, along with a number of water organizations for efforts that include outreach to landscape professionals and their customers.

2018 WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award Winners
American Standard
Athens-Clarke County (Georgia) Public Utilities Department
City of Charlottesville (Virginia)
Cobb County (Georgia) Water System
Delta Faucet Company
Energy Inspectors Corporation
KB Home
Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District
Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership

2018 WaterSense Partners of the Year
City of Fort Worth (Texas)
City of Plano (Texas)
Citrus County (Florida) Utilities
The Broward Water Partnership

2018 WaterSense Excellence Award Winners
City of Durham (North Carolina) Department of Water Management
Sacramento (California) Suburban Water District
City of Frisco (Texas)
Alliance for Water Efficiency
Sonoma-Marin (California) Saving Water Partnership
The Toro Company
Hunter Industries
San Diego County (California) Water Authority

2018 Excellence in Education and Public Relations: The Toro Company received its third Excellence Award — and its fourth WaterSense Award overall — for education and outreach efforts ranging from scholarships for students to attend the Irrigation Association Show, to sponsorship of the award-winning Water Zone radio show. The show discusses water-saving outdoor practices and products to a growing audience of five million people. In 2017, Toro increased its social media activity related to water efficiency, including more than 45 posts on topics such as Fix a Leak Week and smart irrigation. The company also participated in or conducted dozens of training programs featuring WaterSense labeled products, reaching several thousand homeowners and professionals. And the WaterSmart.Toro.com website topped more than one million visitors since it was launched in 2015.

2018 Excellence in Labeled Products in the Marketplace: Hunter Industries became the first manufacturer to earn the WaterSense label for irrigation spray sprinkler bodies. These devices regulate pressure to minimize outdoor water waste in irrigation systems. Noticing that many contractors were reluctant to install Wi-Fi-enabled weather-based irrigation controllers, Hunter also conducted extensive research to understand the barriers to uptake of the products. Based on the results, Hunter developed a new weather-based controller that better manages the needs of contractors with flow meter connection capabilities, failure reporting, and daily watering schedule modifications based on local conditions. Several of the 19 WaterSense labeled models Hunter launched in 2017 were engineered with these water-saving features to encourage best practices for irrigation management within the complex systems that contractors encounter.

Read more on the 2018 winners on the EPA WaterSense website.