Urinals are the first commercial product slated for WaterSense labeling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program announced its first product labeling effort for commercial building products with the release of a draft specification for high-efficiency flushing urinals.

WaterSense has developed a draft specification for labeling those urinals that are 50 percent more efficient than the current federal standard of 1.0 gallons per flush. To ensure adequate performance, urinals must comply with existing standards for flushing urinals, and need to be tested for trap seal restoration and flush effectiveness before they can earn the WaterSense label.

EPA is collecting public comments on its draft efficiency and performance specification for flushing urinals, with plans to offer the WaterSense label for these fixtures later in 2009 with the release of the final specification. Comments are due to EPA March 9, 2009.

EPA estimates that about 80 percent of the estimated 12 million urinals in-use in the United States are old and inefficient. Nationwide, if all older, inefficient urinals were replaced, we could save nearly 45 billion gallons of water annually.

For more information, visit theWaterSense Web site.