After achieving Partner of the Year three years in a row, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized Citrus County Utilities with a 2019 WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award for its heroic efforts to defeat water waste and promote WaterSense in 2018. The utility, also known as Citrus County Department of Water Resources, received one of 25 WaterSense awards at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, October 3, 2019.

Citrus County Utilities Wins 2019 WaterSense® Sustained Excellence Award

Since 2006, Citrus County Utilities and more than 2,000 other WaterSense partners have helped consumers save more than 3.4 trillion gallons of water. That’s enough water to supply all American households for four months! In addition to water savings, WaterSense labeled products and homes have helped reduce the amount of energy needed to heat, pump, and treat water by 462.5 billion kilowatt hours—which is enough to power more than 44.4 million homes for a year—and save $84.2 billion in water and energy bills.

“Our partners have made water-saving products, homes, and programs accessible across the nation and have educated millions on the importance of water conservation,” said Veronica Blette, Chief, WaterSense Branch. “These WaterSense award winners are leading the fight against water waste to save our most precious resource.”

Among its many efforts, the County held two Irrigation 101 workshops and a homeowner training in the Terra Vista community highlighting WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and proper programming. The utility’s Schedule a Specialist (SAS) customer assistance program provided 277 residential irrigation system walk-throughs in 2018. The county has calculated that SAS participants from the previous year achieved a 25 percent decrease in water use in 2018—more than 19 million gallons! Citrus County Utilities completed 32 irrigation evaluations in collaboration with Southwest Florida Water Management District and Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority.  For Fix a Leak Week, the utility partnered with the Sugarmill Woods community to host its annual water conservation expo.  Water conservation program participants saved over 100 million gallons of water in 2018.

“Reducing water consumption through water conservation helps to preserve and protect our critical water resources and defer the costs of developing new drinking water infrastructure. Our continuing WaterSense partnership is an important part of Citrus County’s water conservation effort,” Ken Cheek, director, Citrus County Department of Water Resources.

For more information about WaterSense, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.