I was just informed that responding to written request initiated by the Irrigation Association and signed by a consortium of 55 green industry companies and associations, including ANLA, the EPA has decided to extend the comment period 45 days for the WasteSense program’s draft Water-Efficient Single Family New Home Specifications.
Word is, the WaterSense draft was developed by EPA to provide voluntary guidelines for water conservation for new home construction, including the outside landscape. And, apparently, the specifications were developed without relevant stakeholder input from the landscape and turf industries. Potentially, this will have a very negative effect on landscaping and water features in the landscape. Although WaterSense is a voluntary EPA program, the concern is the the program will evolve in such a way that many stats and local units of government will mandate WaterSense compliance in new construction.
Contact John Flowers at flowers.john@epa.gov, 202/564/0624 and watersense-newhomes@erg.com to express concerns regarding the draft. For more details on the program go to www.epa.gov/watersense.
I expressed my opinions on this in an earlier post.
