{"id":21901,"date":"2020-09-02T05:51:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T05:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=21901"},"modified":"2020-09-06T04:50:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-06T04:50:58","slug":"looser-standards-for-showerheads-could-send-a-lot-of-water-and-money-down-the-drain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/looser-standards-for-showerheads-could-send-a-lot-of-water-and-money-down-the-drain\/","title":{"rendered":"Looser standards for showerheads could send a lot of water and money down the drain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Glennon<\/a>, University of Arizona<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

For more than 25 years, Congress has directed U.S. government agencies to set energy<\/a> and water<\/a> efficiency standards for many new products. These measures conserve resources and save consumers a lot of money<\/a>. Until recently, they had bipartisan support<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But President Trump has turned efficiency standards into symbols of intrusive government. His administration has opposed many of these rules, including standards for light bulbs<\/a>, commercial boilers, portable air conditioners<\/a> and low-flow toilets<\/a>. His latest target: showerheads.<\/p>\n

The Energy Policy Act of 1992, passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush, set the maximum flow rate for showers at 2.5 gallons per minute<\/a>. President Trump is proposing to increase the rate, which he calls inadequate to wash his \u201cbeautiful hair<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may sound funny, but it\u2019s not. As someone who writes and teaches about<\/a> water law and policy, I know that the U.S. water supply is finite and exhaustible<\/a>. Most Americans take water for granted<\/a>, but as population growth and climate change exacerbate water shortages<\/a>, experts increasingly argue that water policy should promote conservation<\/a><\/p>\n

\"EPA<\/a>
The Trump administration is proposing to roll back a regulation that has spurred manufacturers to produce high-efficiency showerheads.<\/span>
\nEPA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When is a showerhead not a showerhead?<\/h2>\n

On Aug. 13, the Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend the existing standard<\/a> for showerheads. The documentation prints out at 25 pages of mind-numbing rationalization. Its definition of showerheads exemplifies the byzantine logic behind this policy shift.<\/p>\n

For example, the proposed rule provides three images<\/a> of fixtures with between three and eight heads attached to a single pipe coming out of the wall. So long as none of the individual heads has a flow greater than 2.5 gallons per minute, the measure asserts that each fixture satisfies Congress\u2019s quest for water and energy conservation.<\/p>\n

\"Images<\/a>
Under the Trump administration\u2019s proposed rule, each of these fixtures could produce up to 2.5 gallons of water per minute from each separate nozzle. Current law limits the entire device to 2.5 gallons per minute.<\/span>
\nDOE<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How can the Energy Department allow shower fixtures with as many as eight heads, each emitting 2.5 gallons per minute? For context, Webster\u2019s dictionary<\/a> defines a showerhead as a \u201cfixture for directing the spray of water in a bathroom shower.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the proposed rule interprets \u201cshowerhead\u201d to mean \u201can accessory to a supply fitting for spraying water onto a bather.\u201d With this sleight of hand, a congressional rule limiting showerhead flows can be deftly avoided by installing a hydra-headed fixture with multiple \u201cshowerheads,\u201d each flowing at 2.5 gallons per minute.<\/p>\n

\"Vertical<\/a>
The proposed new rule classifies this device as a \u2018body spray,\u2019 not a showerhead.<\/span>
\nDOE<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The agency also released a fourth image<\/a> of a wall fixture with seven nozzles, which the rule would not subject to the 2.5 gallons per minute maximum. The Energy Department deems these fixtures a \u201cbody spray\u201d rather than a showerhead because they are \u201cusually located\u201d below the bather\u2019s head. (Of course, the person showering may be short, or the plumber may install the fixture high on the shower wall.) Body sprays may have six or eight nozzles<\/a> with no flow limits.<\/p>\n

The sad part of this foolishness is that the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s WaterSense program<\/a>, which identifies water-efficient projects and promotes water conservation, has been spectacularly successful, at virtually no cost to consumers or the regulated community. Showers constitute 17% of residential water use<\/a>. That\u2019s 40 gallons per day for the average family, or 1.2 trillion gallons annually in the United States.<\/p>\n

WaterSense fixtures and appliances have saved Americans more than 4.4 trillion gallons of water and US$87 billion in water and energy expenses<\/a> since the program began in 2006. Low-water-use fixtures \u2013 including showerheads, toilets and washing machines \u2013 are now the accepted norm across the United States.<\/p>\n

Some early products, such as the first high-efficiency toilets, had some hiccups. But that was 20 years ago. Today, notwithstanding President Trump\u2019s declaration that \u201cpeople are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once<\/a>,\u201d consumers embrace low water-use fixtures because they work well, save money and reduce water and energy consumption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter and get expert takes on today\u2019s news, every day.<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n

Tapped out<\/h2>\n

Today the United States faces serious water problems. Georgia and Florida are fighting a prolonged battle over flows in the Apalachicola River<\/a>. Excessive groundwater pumping is causing water levels in wells to plummet and springs to dry up<\/a>. As I explain in my book, \u201cUnquenchable: America\u2019s Water Crisis and What To Do About It<\/a>,\u201d farmers are competing with cities for water.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 has helped to make the affordability of water a national issue. Some rural areas, such as the Navajo Nation, where many people need to haul water to their homes and villages<\/a>, have higher rates of coronavirus infection. People who have lost their jobs find themselves unable to pay their water bills<\/a>, which in turn compromises the financial stability of water providers.<\/p>\n