Installing a low flow showerhead = water, energy and environmental conservation

There are lots of good reasons to conserve water at home.  At the household level, doing so saves you money on your water, sewer and electric bill.  On a broader level, conservation measures also reduce the significant amount of energy needed to treat and deliver water – public water and wastewater treatment facilities consume enough power each year to provide electricity to 5 million homes!  Then there are the environmental conservation benefits - reducing water consumption decreases the greenhouse gas emissions related to treatment and supply, and helps preserve freshwater sources as viable aquatic habitat.

There are also lots of ways to go about conserving water at home.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an excellent list ranging from simple changes in current habits to upgrading fixtures and appliances.

Replacing a standard showerhead with a low flow showerhead is a simple, low-cost project that can yield big water consumption savings, given that showers typically account for 17% of indoor household water use.  If your current showerhead is marked “2.5 GPM Max” (GPM means gallons per minute), it is already considered low flow.  If not, you will probably benefit from installing a new one.  There is an easy way to make sure the switch is worth the time and money you will spend.  Simply find a one gallon container, hold it beneath the existing showerhead turned on to full force (let it run for 2 minutes first), use a watch to determine how many seconds it takes to fill the container to the one gallon mark, and then determine the flow of your existing showerhead in GPM as follows:

Flow = 60 divided by number of seconds to fill to one gallon

If you don’t have a one gallon container, find a 1- or 2- quart pitcher, use your watch to determine the number of seconds to fill it, and then determine flow in GPM using this formula…

Flow = (60 divided by number of seconds to fill to 1- or 2- quart mark) divided by 4 for 1-qt or divided by 2 for 2-quart

The video below documents the replacement of a showerhead, step-by-step, at a rental property we own.  Our tenants are three Colorado State University graduate students.  The existing showerhead was quite old, and measured a wasteful 4.5 GPM flow.  We replaced it with an Oxygenics Elite Shower 700 Series low flow showerhead, with a resulting 1.25 GPM measured flow rate.  Let’s do the math on the water saved, assuming that the students each take a five-minute shower daily.

Savings = (4.25 GPM – 1.25 GPM) x 5 minutes/shower x 3 people x 365 days/year = 17,790 gallons/year!

Our tenants are very pleased with the change because it eliminates their problem of running out of hot water when they shower one right after another, which is the case most mornings, and because they can now easily adjust the pressure of the shower to their liking.

We also replaced the showerhead at our home with another brand of low flow showerhead – the Evolve Roadrunner eco-optimized showerhead - improving our measured flow rate from 2.5 GPM to 1.0 GPM.

You can find plenty of low flow showerhead options on-line, or at your favorite hardware or home improvement store.  We  sourced both showerheads from Green Irene to take advantage of their expertise researching and identifying best-value products.  We found their pricing of $34.95 for the Oxygenics head and $40.00 for the Evolve head to be competitive with e-tailer pricing.

So whether you start with a simple project like this, or simply change some habits, start conserving water soon.  Your wallet and the environment will thank you.