Federal Water Efficiency Directives
Federal agencies are directed to reduce water use and improve water efficiency through several executive and legislative orders. The following section provides an overview of these federal directives, providing guidance to federal agencies on how to meet the requirements.
Executive Order 13423
Executive Order (EO) 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management (signed by President Bush January 29, 2007) directs each agency beginning in FY 2008 to reduce water consumption intensity, relative to the baseline of the agency's water consumption in FY 2007, through life-cycle cost-effective measures by 2% annually through the end of the fiscal year 2015 or 16 percent by the end of FY 2015. For more information about the guidelines for meeting these goals, see the Water Efficiency Goals Guidance page. Federal sites should strive to meet or exceed this 2% annual savings in water use intensity each year.
EO 13423 also directs federal sites to conduct water audits of at least 10% of facility square footage annually and to conduct audits at least every 10 years. Federal agencies also are encouraged to purchase water efficient products and services, including WaterSense labeled products, and use contractors who are certified through a WaterSense labeled program, where applicable. More information can be found at the Environmental Protection Agency's Watersense web site.
It should be noted that the requirements under EO 13423 supersede the requirements in EO 13123, namely the development of Water Management Plans and the implementation of FEMP Water Efficiency Best Management Practices (BMPs). However, agencies are encouraged to use these existing tools to the in achieving the goals of EO 13423.
Department of Energy Supplemental Guidance
To help achieve the water goals and reporting requirements of EO 13423 and the Instructions for Implementing Executive Order 13423 (PDF 150 KB) (dated March 29, 2007) FEMP has developed supplemental guidance, Establishing Baseline and Meeting Water Conservation Goals of Executive Order 13423 (PDF 512 KB). Download Adobe Reader. This guidance was developed to assist agencies in the interpretation of, and ultimate compliance with, EO 13423. Specifically, three key elements of compliance were identified and presented: baseline development, efficiency opportunity identification/ implementation, and necessary reporting. For each key area, this document provides EO 13423 interpretation, suggests a path forward, and provides resources for additional information. For more information about the guidelines for meeting these goals, see the Water Efficiency Goals Guidance page.
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), Public Law 110-140, Section 432, Management of Energy and Water Efficiency in Federal Buildings, amends Section 543 of NECPA, and establishes a framework for facility project management and benchmarking. Under this new requirement, agencies must identify all "covered facilities" that constitute at least 75% of the agency's facility energy use. A covered facility may be defined as "a group of facilities at a single location or multiple locations managed as an integrated operation". An energy manager must be designated for each of these covered facilities. Each facility energy manager will be responsible for:
- Completing comprehensive energy and water evaluations (including re-/retrocommissioning) of 25% of covered facilities each year, so that an evaluation of each such facility is completed at least once every four years.
- Implementing of identified energy and water efficiency measures; bundling of individual measures of varying paybacks into combined projects is permitted.
- Following up on implemented measures, including fully commissioning equipment, putting in place operations and maintenance (O&M) plans, and measuring and verifying energy and water savings.