If you’re looking to go green, one of the best places to start is by taking a look at one of our daily rituals: taking a shower. Have you ever paused to think how much water is used for showering and where it comes from?
The EPA estimates that showering accounts for 17 percent of indoor residential water use in the United States. That amounts to an astounding 3.3 billion gallons of water per day, and 1.2 trillion gallons per year. This torrent of water is being taken from delicate ecosystems, causing great harm to the environment. While some of this water returns to the environment through water treatment plants, much of it does not or does so only with pollution. It should be no surprise, then, that increasing water efficiency must be a top priority of governments and individuals seeking to make a difference for the environment.
One of the best ways to save water is to install a water-saving, low flow shower head. These shower heads are engineered to provide a powerful flow of water without sacrificing the luxury or comfort you’re used to in your showering routine. Technology can vary from creatively designed orifices that focus the stream and control the size of water droplets, to showerheads that inject air into the water stream to increase the blast.
Low flow shower heads typically use 1.5 to 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm). By contrast, older or non-efficient showerheads use more than 2.5 gpm, with those older than 15 years sometimes using more than 7 gallons per minute!
Not sure if you need one of these fixtures? Do this test: place a bucket marked in gallons under your shower head, then turn on the shower at its normal rate. Use a watch to see how many seconds it takes to fill the bucket to the one-gallon mark. If it takes less than 20 seconds then you’re using more water than you really need and should consider buying a low flow shower head instead.
In addition to saving water, you’re also saving money. Whereas a low flow showerhead could run you as little as $15 (a bit more for higher quality ones), the 20% or more in water savings you’d realize would translate to $50-$75 a year on water bills and another $20-$50 a year on energy bills for heating the water. In other words, the showerhead pays for itself almost immediately.
Installing a new shower head is easy. You usually just unscrew the old one, screw in the new one, and you’re done!
If going green matters to you, there is every reason to change to a water saving shower head. There’s not much else you can do that is so easy and makes such a big difference for both the environment and your wallet without sacrificing one bit of luxury.