Water Rating Systems: How They Can Further Responsible Groundwater Practices

The importance of water efficiency has increased dramatically in the past 5 years, and it’s relevant to both drought and “water-rich” locales. While water scarcity grabs a lot of headlines, stormwater management is a growing concern, too. A water rating can not only benchmark a property’s water usage, it can also serve as a declaration for a site’s stormwater management practices.

The recharge of groundwater is essential to everything from replenishing a single well to sustaining our nation’s crops and natural habitats. Poor stormwater management practices negatively affect our groundwater supplies, but by encouraging rainfall to remain on-site, many will benefit. Through an independent, predictive analysis of a residential property, everyone from a property owner to a municipality can better understand what's going to happen with regards to stormwater management, groundwater recharge and water consumption.

This session will provide a general overview of the industry’s first water rating system: the Water Efficiency Rating Score (WERS) program; a predictive, performance-based approach to water efficiency. WERS is applicable to both new & existing single-family and multifamily residential properties. It can incorporate EPA's WaterSense program and other water budgeting tools into the final results. Through the use of visual aids, attendees will gain an understanding of the elements of field data capture needed to derive a water rating and how properties can be compared using this tool. The session will also discuss how a water rating can be used as a regulatory tool, a financial incentive or as part of a green building program. This will give attendees a variety of implementation examples they can take back to their state and local communities, and/or elected officials, when looking to further the adoption of water conservation measures and/or improved stormwater and groundwater management practices.