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Water conservation

Water: an emerging imperative

Water conservation has long been a critical issue for housing. For nearly 20 years, we have been building water-efficient new homes to address this issue. In many of the areas in which we build, including the West Coast and Southwest, periodic drought conditions are a way of life, and water conservation is an imperative.

Water is not something that we can take for granted

We consider water a fundamental human right. As many areas of the U.S. experience an increasing frequency, intensity and duration of drought events, building water-efficient new homes can help preserve this vital natural resource as well as save our homeowners on utility costs.

Water conservation is emerging as a condition of doing business in the Southwest

Some municipalities in the Southern Colorado River Basin that may be facing lower allotments of water from the river amid more frequent droughts are considering requiring homes to be WaterSense labeled to permit new residential communities. This is why we believe that building WaterSense labeled homes is the right thing to do for our homeowners, the environment and our business, giving us, among other things, a potential advantage with local governments looking for experienced partners.

An early leader in water-efficient homes.

Water tapWe were the first national homebuilder to join the EPA’s WaterSense program in 2010 and have been a strong proponent of this important water-efficiency standard ever since. WaterSense labeled homes use at least 30% less water than a typical home and can save a household 50,000 gallons of water annually, on average, according to EPA.

We have built over 19,000 WaterSense labeled and Water Smart homes, more than any other homebuilder, and installed over 1,000,000 WaterSense labeled fixtures, collectively helping to save an estimated 1.7 billion gallons of water per year.

In 2022, we built 1,760 WaterSense labeled homes. These homes were rated using the RESNET HERSH2O water efficiency rating system. Our average RESNET HERSH2O Index score was 61, which is 39% more water efficient than a home built to 2006 standards.