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New York City Teams Up with EPA to Promote Water Efficiency

Release Date: 08/03/2009
Contact Information: John Senn, EPA, (212) 637-3667, senn.john@epa.gov; Mercedes Padilla, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, (718) 595-6600, mpadilla@dep.nyc.gov

(New York, N.Y.) While New York City is one of the most populous and busiest cities on the planet, it’s also one of the greenest, and now the Big Apple is promoting the importance of conserving water by partnering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through the Agency’s WaterSense program, which promotes water efficiency strategies, and identifies and labels products that use less water, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) aims to raise awareness about the importance of conserving water in the nation’s largest city.

“The motto of EPA’s WaterSense program is ‘Every Drop Counts,’ and nowhere is that more appropriate or important than New York City,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “In a city of 8 million people, small improvements to how we use water can mean saving millions of gallons per day, which is good for the environment and the economy alike.”

“New Yorkers use about 1.1 billions gallons of water a day. In order to continue providing reliable water to an expected growing city population, we must ensure that conservation efforts succeed now and into the future,” said DEP Acting Commissioner Steven Lawitts. “DEP has long promoted the conservation and protection of New York’s drinking water and conserving this precious resource will not only help to save New Yorkers money, but it helps conserve the supply we all depend on.”

As an EPA WaterSense promotional partner, DEP is promoting the value of water efficiency and increasing awareness of the WaterSense brand by distributing program materials at public outreach events and the Union Square Greenmarket. DEP is also linking to the WaterSense Web site, https://www.epa.gov/watersense, from its own web pages.

WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by EPA, seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by promoting water efficiency and enhancing the market for water-efficient products, programs, and practices. WaterSense helps consumers identify water-efficient products and programs, and the WaterSense label indicates that a product or program meets water efficiency and performance criteria. WaterSense-labeled products perform as well or better than conventional products, help save money, and encourage innovation in manufacturing. WaterSense-labeled products, which must use at least 20 percent less water than conventional products, include toilets, faucets and irrigation equipment.

For more information on WaterSense, visit https://www.epa.gov/watersense. Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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