1999年6月发布的第13123号行政命令指示联邦机构制定并实施提高政府所有设施用水效率的方法。具体来说，联邦机构需要确定减少水消耗量的目标。在美国能源部联邦能源管理计划（FEMP）和国家可再生能源实验室（NREL）的领导下，联邦机构的代表成立了一个工作组，为实现规定的水效率改进建议指导方针和方法。对联邦用水的审查揭示了通常与用水评估相关的复杂性。例如，大多数建筑都没有单独计量，因此很难确定用水最多的区域，也很难确定这些区域的改善优先顺序。基础设施经常老化，资本改善和维护被推迟多年。 由于计费方式，许多机构不知道用了多少水，或者用了多少钱。然而，很明显，一些联邦机构已经在不同地点实施了许多水效率改进措施。在确定用水基准时，重要的是要赞扬这些成功，而不是惩罚已经在节约用水的设施。同样重要的是要继续关注成本效益，因为项目实施通常通过正常的联邦预算程序获得资金。1999年，FEMP建立了一种方法，以确定基线用水情况和提高水效率的目标。该目标为联邦水资源效率确立了10个最佳管理实践（BMP），类似于加州城市水资源保护委员会谅解备忘录下制定的那些实践。联邦BMP主要关注办公室用水、景观美化、供暖和制冷、泄漏检测和教育，并强调成本- 有效性、灵活性和创造力。包括10个参考文献，表1。

Executive Order 13123, issued in June 1999, directed Federal agencies to develop and implement methods to improve water-use efficiency at government owned facilities. Specifically, the order required all federal agencies to identify their existing water consumption and to establish a goal for reducing that consumption. Under the leadership of the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) and National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL), representatives from Federal agencies established a working group to recommend guidelines and methods for achieving the mandated water efficiency improvements. A review of Federal water use revealed the complications typically associated with assessing water usage. For example, most of the buildings were not separately metered, making it difficult to identify areas in which water usage was greatest and to prioritize those areas for improvements. Frequently, the infrastructure was aging, and capital improvements and maintenance had been deferred for many years. Because of billing practices, many agencies had no idea how much water was being used, or at what cost. It was also apparent, however, that some Federal agencies had already implemented many water efficiency improvements at various sites. When establishing the baseline for water usage, it was important to credit these successes and not penalize facilities that were already conserving water. It was also important to remain focused on cost-effectiveness, since program implementation is usually financed through normal Federal budget procedures. In 1999, FEMP established a method to identify baseline water usage and a water efficiency improvement goal. The goal established 10 Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Federal water efficiency, similar to those developed under the California Urban Water Conservation Council's Memorandum of Understanding. The Federal BMPs focus primarily on office water use, landscaping, heating and cooling, leak detection, and education and emphasize cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and creativity. Includes 10 references, table.