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Los Angeles-based homebuilder KB Home has announced plans to build every home in California, Arizona and Nevada to the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest “WaterSense” specifications, cutting water consumption by 30% from typical new construction.
Almost half of the 13,472 homes the company built in 2021 were in those three states, public filings show.
To date, KB Home has built over 18,000 WaterSense-labeled homes and installed over 900,000 WaterSense fixtures. The company estimates that these homes and fixtures together conserve approximately 1.6 billion gallons of water annually.
A WaterSense-labeled home is efficient indoors and out, saving a family an average of 50,000 gallons of water a year through both efficient plumbing fixtures, water-saving landscaping techniques and efficient yard irrigation. For example, plumbing distribution systems get hot water to the tap faster to save time — and water — while standing at the sink.
Such homes must be certified by a third party, such as the Home Innovation Research Labs, for meeting the EPA’s efficiency and performance criteria.
“We were the first builder to participate in the EPA’s WaterSense program,” Dan Bridleman, a KB senior vice president of sustainability, told Builder Magazine in November. “We continue to push the limits on how we can save water.”
KB Home and other national homebuilders have been experimenting with energy- and water-efficient homes for more than a decade.
Industrywide, new construction and landscaping are far more water- and energy-efficient than even just a few years ago, with drought-resistant landscaping and water-wise toilets and appliances and showerheads.
Builders like Toll Brothers, Lennar and TriPointe also claim on their websites to use WaterSense fixtures in their homes.
In 2020, Lennar Homes participated in a “gray water” pilot project in Denver that captured shower and bathwater to reuse for flushing toilets.
In addition, state water conservation measures with have been getting progressively tougher, said Bob Raymer, a building code consultant with the California Building Industry Association. Starting in 2011, the state’s Green Building Standards required builders to install low-flow toilets, faucets and shower heads in new homes. The Department of Housing and Community Development adopted an emergency mandate in 2015 requiring all new homes to comply with a water efficiency landscape measure that cuts outdoor watering consumption by 25%.
Homebuilders and state government currently are exploring ways to implement water recycling for homes.
“In comparison to homes built prior to 1980, the California Green Building Standards have slashed indoor water consumption by 50%,” Raymer said in an email.
KB Home maintains, however, that it’s an industry leader in energy and water conservation.
Along with Arizona builder Meritage Homes, KB Homes was among the first developers to begin producing “net zero” homes that generate as much energy as they consume using rooftop solar panels, energy-efficient appliances and insulation to reduce electrical usage.
The company’s “ZeroHouse” debuted in Southern California in 2011 at a 58-home Lake Forest development. Eventually, solar became a standard option at KB developments throughout Southern California.
UPDATE: This post was revised to add more details about the EPA’s WaterSense program.
— SCNG staff writer Teri Sforza contributed to this report.
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