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Actions
In This Section
EPA is taking the following actions to meet its federal water intensity reduction requirements:
Agencywide Projects
Replacing or retrofitting lavatory faucets Agencywide with high-efficiency faucets or high-efficiency faucet aerators, saving approximately 1 million gallons of water per year. Learn more about the lavatory faucet retrofit project.- Eliminating single-pass cooling at the following facilities:
- The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center (AWBERC),
- Center Hill Facility, and the Testing & Evaluation Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Large Lakes Research Station in Grosse Ile, Michigan
- The Main Building and the National Health & Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.
- Conducting irrigation audits and optimizing irrigation systems where EPA has them using the recommendations from professionals who are certified by a WaterSense labeled program. Irrigation audits have been conducted by WaterSense partners at the following EPA laboratories:
- The Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center in Ada, Oklahoma
- Region 8 Laboratory in Golden, Colorado
- Region 6 Laboratory in Houston, Texas
- Western Ecology Division Laboratory, ORD in Corvallis, Oregon
- Science and Ecosystem Support Division Laboratory in Athens, Georgia
Facility-Specific Projects
- Developing a drought management plan, eliminating single-pass cooling, retrofitting lavatory faucets with high-efficiency aerators, eliminating cooling tower use at the High Bay building, optimizing cooling tower operations at the National Health & Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, modifying cage and rack washing operations, and retrofitting pre-rinse spray valves with high-efficiency models at EPA’s campus in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Learn more about the water conservation projects at RTP.
- Replacing a steam sterilizer with more efficient equipment; capturing air handler condensate and routing it to the cooling tower; retrofitting lavatory faucets with high-efficiency aerators; and retrofitting two restrooms with high-efficiency toilets and urinals at the Office of Research and Development (ORD) Laboratory in Athens, Georgia.
- Retrofitting toilets at the Environmental Science Center (ESC) in Fort Meade, Maryland, with dual-setting flush valves. In addition, ESC implemented a project to capture deionized water and put it use as boiler feed water, saving 100,000 gallons per year.
- Retrofitting faucets with high-efficiency aerators and increasing the cycles of concentration of the cooling tower at Gulf Ecology Division Laboratory in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
- Replacing the vacuum pump seal to convert the existing system to a closed loop system at the Science and Technology Center in Kansas City, Kansas, resulting in a savings of approximately 900,000 gallons per year.
- Renovating all restrooms with high-efficiency toilets and urinals at the Atlantic Ecology Division Laboratory in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
- Improving preventative maintenance procedures on float-operated switches associated with scrubber units and vacuum pumps at the National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Capturing condensate produced from roof-mounted air handlers to use in the cooling tower, saving approximately 280,000 gallons per year in cooling tower make-up water, at the Science and Ecosystems Support Division Laboratory in Athens, Georgia.
Best Practices
EPA facilities draw on lists of best practices to design, implement, and evaluate their water conservation efforts.