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	1/21/2002
	What are the maximum flow rate requirements mandated by US federal law, EPACT ’92?
	EPACT ’92 (The Energy Policy Act of 1992) set federal maximum flow rate standards. All kitchen and bathroom faucets are restricted to a maximum flow of 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm) when measured at a pressure of 60 psi. Public lavatories are restricted to a maximum of 0.5 gpm at 60 psi, and metering faucets are limited to 0.25 gallons per cycle. Showerheads are restricted to a maximum of 2.5 gpm when measured at 80 psi. The law further mandates that the test conditions are to be those described in ANSI/ASME Standard ASME A112.18.1M-1996. The federal law pre-empted all existing state regulations with flow rate maximums higher than the prescribed limits and prohibited all future state regulations. Since then, those states that had flow rate regulations lower than the prescribed limits, which were not pre-empted, have since changed their laws to coincide with the federal limits with the result that the flow rate standards described above now apply to the entire United States (as well as to Canada).