Phoenix, AZ, Greenbuild Expo - American Standard Brands is on a mission to help metropolitan Atlanta find solutions to its water woes.  The company is retrofitting 19 homes in two neighborhoods with the latest in high-efficiency plumbing fixtures to measure both water savings and user satisfaction.

Working with Georgia’s first licensed GreenPlumber® and a green building consultant, American Standard identified volunteers in the Serenbe community in Palmetto, GA and in Chastain Lakes in Kennesaw, GA to upgrade to WaterSense®-certified toilets and bathroom faucets that save at least 20 percent more water than current building codes require.  Showerheads are being replaced with models that save 20 to 40 percent more than current standards.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that water conservation doesn’t mean sacrifice,” said Jeannette Long, general manager for e-commerce with American Standard.  “As product technology has advanced, performance and satisfaction have advanced right along with it.  If we can encourage more Georgia residents to feel confident with water-saving  products, it will go a long way towards easing Atlanta’s drinking water burden.”

Metropolitan Atlanta’s four million residents have just emerged from a severe drought and long-term water issues remain a critical situation for the region that has experienced rapid growth over the last 20 years. Convincing more residents to retrofit their bathrooms for water efficiency would save money for Georgia families in two ways: reducing their household water bills, and mitigating the need for taxpayer-funded reservoirs and treatment facilities. 

The Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) estimates that if just 25 percent of Georgia households replaced their existing toilets and bathroom faucets with WaterSense-certified fixtures, it could save the state nearly 10 billion gallons of water per year. According to an August article in the region’s Creative Loafing newspaper, Georgia officials estimate that conservation measures are 27 times cheaper than building new reservoirs.

“Metro Atlanta is facing a critical water shortage in just a few years if habits and infrastructure do not change,” said Tommy Linstroth, head of sustainable initiatives for Savannah-based developer Melaver, Inc. and founder of RehydrateUS.org. “Through this campaign we hope to illustrate that even simple changes, like switching out older fixtures for low-flow options, can bring notable savings on both water and cost for homeowners.”  Linstroth is assisting American Standard to compile before-and-after usage data and educate the broader community on water conservation issues. 

In exchange for the new products and installation, the 19 participating families are sharing their water bills and daily water use habits with American Standard, as well as sharing their experiences on www.RehydrateUS.org blog.  Residents are encouraged to maintain current habits around water usage and will provide feedback on performance and savings shown.  The homeowners range from single residents to families with children in homes of varying size and design.

Testing the Savings in Neighborhoods New and Old
The two neighborhoods chosen for the American Standard program represent different ends of the spectrum for green building.  Serenbe, located south of Atlanta, was developed as an eco-sensitive community where the majority of land is set aside for conservation and residents have a heightened sensibility towards environmental concerns.  Homes at Serenbe were built within the last five years and designed to

EarthCraft House™ standards with advanced energy savings and existing plumbing code standards.  Current standards permit toilets that use up to 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf), bathroom faucets that have a flow-rate of 2.0 gallons per minute (gpm) and showerheads with usage not exceeding 2.5 gpm.  

The Chastain Lakes community, located northwest of Atlanta, was built more than 20 years ago, pre-dating current water efficiency standards that took effect in 1994.  For those Chastain Lakes residents with toilets that use 3.5 gpf or more, replacing three of them with the American Standard H2Option dual flush toilet could save more than $100 and 29,000 gallons of water, according to the Water Savings Calculator at www.americanstandard.com.

Top Rated Efficiency Products
Dual flush toilets allow users to decide whether to use more or less water for each flush: potentially saving up to 30 percent more water over current standards. Users select either a “light” flush for liquids or a “heavy” flush for solids.  Until now, dual flush toilets relied on the push of water to cleanse the bowl in what is known as a washdown flush.  The American Standard H2Option is the first truly siphonic dual flush toilet, with forceful but quiet jetted action under the rim. H2Option just received the highest possible scores in the Maximum Performance (MaP) test, an independent report of toilet bulk removal performance developed by John Koehler and Veritec Consulting. 

The Serenbe and Chastain Lakes residents were able to choose from a broad selection of American Standard bathroom faucets, all of which are WaterSense-certified.  In addition, all American Standard bathroom faucets are equipped with washerless ceramic disc valves for a lifetime of water-saving performance, guarding against drips that can waste more than 2,000 gallons per year.

The homeowners also received the three-function FloWise® water saving showerhead, which received top satisfaction ratings by a leading consumer magazine in August.  This stylish showerhead has a small turbine-like mechanism that spins the water stream through the head to create a powerful, energizing spray. Users selected from three spray modes that use less water to generate sprays comparable to the original water-guzzling 2.5 gpm styles.
 
The installation in both communities is being handled by Marine Plumbing, of Marietta, GA, the state’s only licensed GreenPlumber.  Owner Nick Marine underwent more than 35 hours of training and passed a rigorous exam to earn the designation.  GreenPlumbersUSA is a national training and accreditation program that assists plumbers in understanding their role in the environment and assists consumers through water usage audits, tips on reducing usage, and guidance on current government rebates for plumbing fixtures.  American Standard is a founding partner of the organization (www.greenplumbersusa.com).

The Atlanta water-efficiency test project launched in October and results will be finalized and made public in first quarter 2010, aiming to illustrate how simple changes can bring notable results in a short amount of time.

For more information about American Standard’s water-efficiency products and their Water Savings Calculator, visit www.americanstandard.com.
       

ABOUT AMERICAN STANDARD BRANDS
American Standard Brands is a leading North American manufacturer of a wide range of high quality kitchen and bath products including faucets, fixtures, furniture, vitreous china fixtures, cast iron sinks, whirlpool tubs and other related products. The company currently serves both the residential and commercial markets, employs more than 6,000 people in the U.S., Canada and Mexico and markets products under the American Standard®, Crane®, Eljer®, Porcher® Jado® and Fiat® brands. American Standard Brands is an affiliated portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners with a minority interest held by Bain Capital Partners, Inc.

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CONTACTS: Nora DePalma, O’Reilly/DePalma for American Standard, (770) 772-4726, nora.depalma@oreilly-depalma.com
Jill Steuck, Director, Corporate Communications, American Standard Brands, (732) 980-3103, stueckj@AmericanStandard.com