Protecting and preserving America’s water supply is a top priority for the EPA because it is a top priority for the American people. That is clear not just in the concerns homeowners and community members express to the EPA and elected officials, but also through the products they buy and the decisions they make as consumers.

That’s why the EPA is working to give consumers options to save water and save money through our WaterSense program. For five years, EPA has applied the WaterSense labels to innovative products – faucets, showerheads, toilets and more – that cut water consumption while performing as well or better than standard products.   

Last year a leading faucet manufacturer, Moen, was recognized as EPA’s WaterSense Partner of the Year. I recently visited the Moen Design Reliability Lab in North Olmstead, Ohio. I had a chance to tour the facility, where American workers are developing and testing products that help American families and businesses save money and preserve water. Moen’s entire product line has earned the WaterSense label; today they produce nine times as many WaterSense products as they did just three years ago. And because of the wide variety of WaterSense items they offer, Moen products are available to consumers at every price point. Just as important, Moen doesn’t just talk about water efficiency; the reuse 70 percent of the water needed for product testing.   

For Moen, this is about more than just doing the right thing for our environment. These days, informed consumers are demanding more of their products, making up a grassroots environmental movement that votes with its dollars. Seven in 10 consumers say they will choose brands that are doing good things for people and the planet, while 74 percent believe that our companies should do more to protect our planet. More than half of Americans say they will look for environmentally friendly products in their next purchase. By responding to consumer demand, companies like Moen can earn new customers, helping them grow and create new jobs and new environmental innovations.

Since the WaterSense program started five years ago, more than 2,300 partners have signed on. Today, about 53 million products have earned the WaterSense label, and the program has helped consumers save 125 billion gallons of water. That adds up to more than $2 billion in savings on Americans’ water and energy bills, and cuts of about 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in our skies.

 The WaterSense program helps expand EPA’s efforts to protect and preserve water beyond just enforcing environmental laws. It helps us to tap the forces of the consumer marketplace and the innovative capacity of American companies. The end result is a situation where we are using less water, where we are saving consumers money and where we are creating economic opportunities for companies like Moen and the people they employ.  

By Lisa Jackson, Shaun Donovan, and Ray LaHood

Two years ago, President Obama offered a new vision for sustainable communities and vastly improved how our agencies work together.  He challenged us to coordinate our efforts and help build communities where housing, public transportation, jobs, and services are conveniently connected, where businesses thrive, and where the air, water and land are clean.

That is the goal of the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities.  And since June 2009, we have worked to help improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options at lower costs, and protect the environment in communities across the nation.

Americans have made it clear they want their communities back–back from the neglected brownfields of earlier decades, back from traffic congestion and sprawl, and back from housing choices that exclude most families.

In places like Ranson, West Virginia, and Boston, Massachusetts, residents are already benefiting from our Partnership’s coordinated efforts to help revitalize neighborhoods and reposition them for a more sustainable future.

In Ranson, the Partnership aligned planning grants and assistance from our three agencies to integrate affordable housing, economic development, and transportation to build a livable community. An EPA Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grant will help Ranson prioritize cleanup of contaminated lots and develop reuse plans based on community input while EPA’s Sustainable Communities Building Blocks assistance will help the city ensure that its development codes promote the kind of growth residents want. Using a DOT TIGER II Planning Grant, Ranson will create a Complete Street plan for the important Fairfax Boulevard / George Street corridor. This will ensure easy and safe downtown access for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as motorized vehicles. And a HUD Challenge Planning Grant will help Ranson develop a smart building code that encourages more compact, walkable development patterns.

Coordinating these grants and assistance will help Ranson create more affordable housing and transportation choices for its residents–saving them money, protecting their air and water, and encouraging long-term economic growth.

The Fairmount Corridor in Boston connects several low-income neighborhoods that rely heavily on public transit. Although a rail line runs along the corridor, it largely bypasses these areas. Boston municipal agencies and regional community groups have been working with the Partnership agencies to improve access to the Fairmount Corridor and open up more economic, environmental and recreational opportunities for neighborhood residents. DOT support is helping upgrade infrastructure, refurbish two transit stations, and build four more. HUD is helping build new affordable homes near these stations. And EPA is helping clean up nearby brownfield sites and prepare station areas for redevelopment. When this work is complete, residents will enjoy more accessible rail service between Boston and the surrounding region, greater prospects for economic development around local stations, new affordable housing choices and more opportunities to improve their lives and the lives of their families.

From Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, DOT, EPA, and HUD have worked closely together to support innovative ideas from communities that help meet their housing, transportation, economic, and environmental challenges head-on. When we back local innovation with coordinated, targeted investments, the economic ripple effect creates jobs, supports business development, and helps keep America on track toward economic recovery and long-term prosperity.

As the President said last October, “We’re working to change the way government works, and that means investing tax dollars wisely and well.”

For more information about the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, please visit www.sustainablecommunities.gov.

Administrator Jackson was in Lansing, Michigan today to announce more than $76 million in new investments across the country that will help redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health. EPA’s Brownfields grants are used to assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties like deserted gas stations or closed smelters. There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America.

Read the press release

More information on EPA’s brownfields program

Check out the slideshow below showing before and after pictures of sites that have been transformed using EPA’s Brownfields grants:

Last January, President Obama called on all federal agencies to examine the rules and regulations they have on the books. This directive — aimed at removing or modernizing outdated regulations that could hinder job creation while maintaining the protections that American families and consumers want and deserve — was something EPA took on in earnest.

EPA is committed to improving regulations based on an open exchange of views from the public and the best available scientific evidence. President Obama’s regulatory strategy marks a commonsense approach for EPA to carry out its mission in a way that encourages economic growth, job creation and innovation.

Here are just a few examples of how EPA is working to fuse scientifically-driven regulations with approaches that are flexible, cost-effective, and reduce burdens for American businesses and consumers.

· Saving Money for Dairy Farmers: A  regulation written to help prevent oil spills was so broad that milk and dairy farmers — not just oil and gas companies — were covered by its requirements. After collaborating with the dairy industry, EPA took steps to exempt milk and dairy containers from oil spill regulation, ensuring that we are not treating spilled milk like spilled oil, and saving dairy farmers more than $140 million each year. 

· Eliminating Redundant Regulations: When American drivers refuel their cars, vapors from the gas pump have the potential to release harmful emissions into the air. In the past, EPA has required gas stations to incorporate vapor controls on their pumps, but today’s generation of vehicles already contain the technology for vapor recovery on the vehicle itself. The requirement for gas pumps has become redundant. In summer 2011, EPA expects to eliminate this mandate on gas station owners, providing cost savings of about $67 million every year.

· Encouraging Alternative Fuels: EPA has eased the process for consumers to make the switch to alternative fuels by simplifying the approval process for manufacturers that make fuel-conversion systems. The new process reduces some economic and procedural hurdles, while also keeping the safeguards that ensure converted vehicles will maintain acceptable emission levels. Previously, a compliance certification cost more than $44,000. After EPA’s regulatory review, the estimated cost would be under $37,000 for new, light-duty engines and less than $14,000 for intermediate-age and older, light-duty engines. For heavy duty engines, we expect the cost savings to be even greater.

These examples illustrate just some of the ways EPA is applying rules and regulations in a commonsense way so that we can spur economic growth, job creation and innovation. To find out more about what EPA and other federal agencies are doing to review regulations and improve the safeguards we implement, visit the White House’s Regulatory Reform Resource  page.

EPA will continue to be guided by President Obama’s direction to create a 21st century regulatory system – one that encourages innovation and economic investment while protecting our health and the environment.