Your morning or evening shower is easily the most relaxing part of your entire day. Sometimes it feels so good to close your eyes and stand under the flow of rain from the shower. The only problem is that sometimes our most relaxing showers are also the ones that waste the most water (and therefore also waste the most energy).
Here are some tips on how to conserve water while showering:
· Do not let the water run to “heat” for a long time. It can take a while for the water to heat up, but it usually doesn’t take that long to make breakfast or clean up the kitchen!
· Wear swim shorts. Use a shower timer and try to limit your shower to five minutes; Sometimes just knowing how long you’ve been in the shower will help you shorten your shower time. This can be very difficult, especially since the average American shower time tends to be closer to ten minutes, but any time you can cut back will help.
Turn off the water when you are lathering. While shampooing your hair or lathering your body, you don’t need the water to be on. In fact, it’s almost easier if the water doesn’t run.
Turn off the water when you are shaving. If you need water to clean your shaver, simply use a full cup of water.
· Exercise before showering. Exercising before you shower serves several purposes: By exercising first, you wake up and are less likely to dawdle in the shower. Also, exercise warms you up and you won’t need to use warm water; remember, the hotter the water, the more energy you are using.
Purchase a low-flow shower head. Make sure the shower head does not use more than 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm). It’s best if you can find one that uses only 1.5 gpm. Keep in mind that some shower heads, especially older shower heads, flow around 6-8 gpm! Also, using a low-flow showerhead doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice water pressure. There are many different great low flow showerheads that you may even like better than your current 6 gpm showerhead!
· Try to shower only once a day, instead of twice.
It’s okay to go a day without showering once in a while!
Even if you can only follow a few of these tips, you’ll be helping to conserve water. And remember that by conserving water in your shower, you’re also conserving energy (because it takes energy to heat the water), and by conserving energy, you’re saving money. Taking shorter showers and following some of these other tips helps not only the environment, but also ensures a better future for you.
