Household Water Efficiency: Showers
From Water Wiki
Showers 16.8%
of Household Water Use
Shower use is the third largest use of water within the home at 16.8% of total household water use. A typical shower lasts about 8 minutes and the easiest way to cut back on shower use is to cut back on showering time. Shower timers can be good reminders to cut back on shower times.
Shower water use rates
National Average
Shower Volume 17.2 gallons
Shower Duration 8.2 minutes
Shower Flow Rate 2.2 gallons per minute
Daily Per Capita Use 11.6 gallons
Showers Per Capita Per Day 0.67 showers per day
(h2ouse)
Changing your showerhead also can decrease water use significantly. Most new showerheads are rated at 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) and are not very expensive (h2ouse). If you have an older showerhead, make sure that it is rated at least 2.5gpm or less. If it is not, purchasing a new showerhead may greatly reduce water use. Showerheads range in price from 5-200+$, but it is not necessary to pay a lot of money to get a good, water-saving showerhead (yahoo). New conserving shower heads use as little as 1.5gpm a 40% decrease in water use from a 2.5gpm shower head. By switching your showerhead and decreasing shower time it is possible to cut shower water use by over 70%!
The online Conservastore (www.conservastore.com) offers showerheads rated at less than 2.5gpm for under 10$. Low flow shower heads are more likely to scald you if a toilet is flushed, but this problem will only occur if you have an older house where the shower supply piping is less than 3/4inch. Anti-scald valves can be installed to get around this problem if necessary (hometips).
Most low-flow shower heads will pay for themselves within the year by saving up to 75$ off your water bill and thus are one of the best and easiest ways to save water in the household.
Sources:
www.h2ouse.org
http://www.hometips.com/cs-protected/guides/showerhd.html
http://shopping.yahoo.com/s:Showerheads
www.conservastore.com
