WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced changes June 2, 2014, to its WaterSense Specification for Tank–Type Toilets (Version 1.2). The specification changes are equivalent to rearranging the furniture and are intended to provide clarification of the existing requirements. Many of the changes involve removing sections of the specification from the appendices because the requirements have become part of ASME A112.19.2/CSA B45.1.
The revised WaterSense specification ensures that tank-type toilets receiving the WaterSense label are certified and labeled consistently, in accordance with EPA’s intent, and will continue to meet consumer expectations for efficiency and performance. Manufacturers have until December 2, 2014, to be in compliance with the new requirements.
WaterSense released its initial Tank-Type High-Efficiency Toilet Specification in January 2007 and issued the first revision to the specification in May 2011. Since that time, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Canadian Standards Association (CSA) have revised ASME A112.19.2/CSA B45.1 Ceramic Plumbing Fixtures to include the waste media extraction test, fill valve integrity test, and tank trim adjustability test protocols established in the WaterSense Specification for Tank-Type Toilets. To align with the revised ASME A112.19.2/CSA B45.1 standard, to the extent possible, WaterSense is issuing Version 1.2 of the specification.
For example, Section 2 now indicates that all tank-type toilets shall conform to the applicable water closet requirements in ASME A112.19.2/CSA B45.1, and all dual-flush tank-type toilets must conform to applicable requirements within ASME A112.19.14 Six-Liter Water Closets Equipped With a Dual Flushing Device. This change now more fully and clearly aligns the specification with the requirements of the guiding national standards for tank-type toilets.
Most of the fixture performance testing protocol that was in Appendix A has been incorporated in the ASME/CSA standard, so that’s been moved out of the appendix. The standard, however, did not include the original average flush volume limits, so that part has been retained in the WaterSense Version 1.2 specification.
EPA also noted that flush testing using both cased and uncased miso paste media have been coming up with similar results so the use of either is approved for testing purposes.
Other changes acknowledged the revisions to the ASME/CSA standard. In Version 1.1 of the WaterSense specification, Section 5.0 Supplementary Requirements for Flush Volume Adjustability included testing protocols intended to limit the flush volume adjustability of certified tank-type toilets. These testing protocols included the fill valve integrity test protocol (Appendix B of Version 1.1 of the specification) and the tank trim adjustability testing protocol (Appendix C of Version 1.1 of the specification). These testing protocols were adopted by the ASME A112.19.2/CSA B45.1 standard, which is now incorporated by reference in Section 2.0 of the specification. Therefore, WaterSense removed these requirements from the specification to minimize redundancy.
You can read the revised specification here.
You can read the Summary of Revisions to the WaterSense Specification for Tank-Type Toilets here.
You can get a lot of background material on the specification here.