Faucets

The Product:

Residential faucets include bathroom and kitchen faucets and replacement aerators. 

The Standard:

Congress established national faucet standards as part of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and they took effect in 1994. Congress instructed DOE to update the standards when the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) amended their standards. In December 2010, with no ASME revisions on the books, DOE officially waived federal preemption of the 2.2 gallon-per-minute (gpm) national faucet standard. This waiver of federal preemption allows states to set standards provided they are more stringent than the national standard.

In 2015, the California Energy Commission adopted new kitchen and lavatory faucet standards, setting the maximum flow rate for kitchen faucets and aerators at 1.8 gallons per minute (gpm) with optional temporary flow of 2.2 gpm at 60 pounds per square inch (psi). California also set the maximum flow rate for private lavatory faucets at 1.2 gpm and the maximum flow rate for public lavatory faucets at 0.5 gpm. The standards went into effect in January 2016.

In 2016, Colorado also adopted lavatory faucet standards at the WaterSense level (1.5 gpm). In 2019, the state adopted California standards for kitchen faucets, and WaterSense standards for public lavatory faucets.

Vermont passed standards similar to California’s in 2018 (with the exception of the standard for lavatory faucets, which must not exceed a flow rate of 1.5 gpm). Hawaii and Washington followed California’s lead in 2019.

In December 2019, New York State set lavatory faucet standards at the 1.5 gpm and 0.5 gpm level for private and public lavatory faucets, respectively.

Key Facts:

In addition to saving water, more-efficient faucets save a significant amount of energy by reducing the amount of hot water used. ASAP estimates that 62% of kitchen faucet models meet California standards. Additionally, we estimate that 94% of private lavatory faucet models and 99% of public lavatory faucet models meet WaterSense standards.

Timeline

Federal Date States
2024 MD Standard Effective
2023 ME Standard Effective
2023 RI Standard Effective
2022 MD Standard Adopted
2022 DC Standard Effective
2022 NY Standard Effective
2022 MA Standard Effective
2022 OR Standard Effective
2022 NJ Standard Effective
2021 ME Standard Adopted
2021 RI Standard Adopted
2021 OR Standard Adopted
2021 MA Standard Adopted
2021 NJ Standard Adopted
2021 WA Standard Effective
2021 CO Standard Effective
2021 HI Standard Effective
2020 DC Standard Adopted
2020 VT Standard Effective
2020 NV Standard Effective
2019 NY Standard Adopted
2019 NV Standard Adopted
2019 WA Standard Adopted
2019 CO Standard Adopted
2019 HI Standard Adopted
2018 VT Standard Adopted
2016 CO Standard Effective
2016 CA Standard Effective
2015 CA Standard Adopted
2014 CO Standard Adopted
1st Federal Standard Effective 1994
EPACT Initial Federal Legislation Enacted 1992
1st Federal Standard Adopted (Congress) 1992

Timeline reflects state standards from 2001 to present; federal standards from inception to present.