Save Water While You Bathe

The opportunities to save water while bathing are legion. The amount you save depends on how often and how long you bathe and also on the rate at which water comes out of your showerhead. Here are some tips:

• Bathe less often. Most people do not really need to bathe everyday – and would not if water were priced at $1 per gallon or if they had to haul it from outside themselves.

• A bath or a shower – which uses more? The average bath consumes about 40 gallons of water. If you take a 2- or 3-minute shower, you will use less than that, but a 10-minute or longer shower will use more. If you take a bath, keep the water level low. If you shower, keep it short. A 10-minute shower uses twice as much water as a 5-minutes shower. At 5 gallons per minute (gpm), that is 25 gallons saved.

• With a one-time investment of $10 to $15 in a low-flow showerhead, you can save half or even more of the water you use to bathe and reduce your cost of heating hot water at the same time. Low-flow showerheads reduce water flow to 2 or 3 gallons a minute while still delivering water with invigorating force. They fit most showers, come in both aerated and non-aerated models, and do not require special tools for installation.

How do you know if you need a low-flow showerhead? Hold a half-gallon container directly under your shower while it is running, making sure to collect all the water. If it fills in less than 10 seconds, purchase a low-flow model.

How much water will you save? If you have a shower that delivers 5 gpm and you take a 5-minutes shower, you will save 15 gallons a day by using a 2-gpm low-flow showerhead. That is 5,475 gallons per year. If you are used to taking a 10-minute shower and the tap delivers 8 gpm, you will save 70 gallons a day with a low-flow model – or 25,550 gallons per year! Who says one person cannot make a difference?