WaterSense is a voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored partnership program that 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.

Targeted Initiatives - WaterSense brings together local water utilities and governments, product manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and other stakeholders to:

• Decrease indoor and outdoor non-agricultural water use through the adoption of more efficient products and practices. 
• Help consumers make water-efficient choices, including differentiating between products and services in the marketplace and adopting simple daily activities that reduce water use.
• Encourage innovation in manufacturing
• Establish and standardize rigorous certification criteria that ensure product efficiency, performance, and quality.

Reporting – EPA will rely on partners to provide data to enable it to estimate water savings and the associated avoided infrastructure costs.

Specifically, WaterSense asks selected partners to submit the following data on an annual basis:

• Product Data: Manufacturers agree to make data or other marketing indicators available to EPA on an annual basis to assist in determining the market penetration of WaterSense labeled products, including unit shipment data and, where appropriate, aggregate product data.
  
  
• Sales Data: Retailers and distributors agree to provide data on sales of water-efficient products or other market indicators to assist in determining the impact of the program in promoting labeled products.
  
  
• Utility Data: WaterSense also asks utility and government partners to report data on results of promotional activities and aggregate data on rebates offered (e.g., number of rebates processed).

In addition to the above annual data, EPA may also request historical data on product shipments from manufacturers and/or industry experts to assess a baseline of market penetration of water-using products. EPA will use the historical shipments data and the above information to estimate the annual water savings associated with the program and will calculate the associated environmental and economic benefits associated with this water savings. It will also use these figures to calculate the program’s efficiency. In addition to the above, EPA may also request data on partners’ satisfaction with the program to improve program services.