H2lOw Flow: Saving Water Via a Low-Flow Showerhead

With the drought affecting over 60% of the US this year, lots of people are paying attention to water scarcity issues. In a warming world, there will be higher levels of evaporation. That means some places will encounter more arid conditions that will lead to drought.

Since water is a greenhouse gas, more water in the atmosphere means more warming. This is called a positive feedback loop.

Since the water can’t stay in the atmosphere, it comes down in the form of precipitation, often times a deluge, and many places will encounter an increase in flooding. When water comes down too fast, as with a flood, it’s hard to hold on to. So places that encounter flooding can still have water scarcity issues along with the devastation floods bring. Drought and flood are twin sisters in a climate changing planet.

Living in the high desert, I find people are hyper-aware of water scarcity issues but we don’t always do all we can to decrease our water usage. By lowering your water footprint, you save yourself money and become better prepared for the changes that the future will bring.

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A standard shower head delivers 5 gallons per minute of water (gpm) or more. Today’s low-flow showerheads have flow rates of less than 2.5 gpm. That means switching to a low-flow showerhead will save you 25 gallons of water for each 10-minute shower. So, for a family of four, showering once a day, you can save 100 gallons of water per day just by installing a new showerhead. This also saves on your water heating as it uses more energy to refill the tank and re-heat rather than just keeping the water at a constant temperature.

The filter I chose was the Rainshow’r Bernoulli Polished Chrome Shower Head. Made in America, the Bernoulli Showerhead incorporates the scientifically recognized Bernoulli principle of pressure changes in fluids at increasing flow rates. So in using half the amount of water, the Bernoulli gives you a full stream spray. What I really like about the Bernoulli showerhead was that you can connect it to a shower filter. For me this was the Rainshow’r CQ-1000-NH Dechlorinating Shower Filter.  So, I have the advantages of water savings as well as chlorine filtration-win/win. Price was about $25 each. Now you don’t have to feel guilty about finishing that song in the shower-just make it a short one.


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