Las Vegas — The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first WaterSense Partners of the Year were recently recognized for “encouraging Americans to tap into their water resources wisely over the last year.” The awards were presented Oct. 9, 2008, at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, the first national water-efficiency conference for an interdisciplinary audience.

In 2007, WaterSense partners were responsible for labeling, selling and promoting more than 193,400 WaterSense-labeled products, saving the United States more than 277 million gallons of water annually.

The 2008 Partners of the Year helped advance the WaterSense mission through a range of activities demonstrating creativity and collaboration. Three of the winning organizations have also worked together to educate plumbers and consumers on the benefits of WaterSense-labeled products.

While the EPA’s WaterSense program depends on the efforts of more than 1,000 partners, these four partners earned this special distinction from EPA:

• Manufacturer Partner of the Year — Kohler Co.
• Retailer and Distributor Partner of the Year — Ferguson
• Promotional Partner of the Year — The Saving Water Partnership
• Irrigation Partner of the Year — Timothy Malooly of Shorewood, Minn.

WaterSense, a partnership program launched in 2006 by the EPA, seeks to protect the future of our nation’s water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water

Visit www.epa.gov/watersense  for more information.