Agency Releases WaterSense Specs for Showerheads
On Sept. 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released for public comment its draft WaterSense specification for showerheads.
Once this specification is finalized, consumers will be able to renovate their bathrooms with a full suite of WaterSense labeled products – toilets, faucets, and showerheads.
Showering accounts for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water consumption. For most households, that’s nearly 30 gallons a day. In fact, the average household could save more than 2,300 gallons per year by installing high-efficiency showerheads.
Since these water savings will reduce demands on water heaters, households could also save enough electricity to power their television use for about a year. These reductions could add up to as much as $50 per year in water and energy bill savings.
The WaterSense draft specification for showerheads sets the maximum flow rate at 2.0 gallons per minute (gpm) at a flowing pressure of 80 pounds per square inch (psi). As with all WaterSense specifications, the draft showerhead specification includes performance criteria to ensure that consumers will not have to sacrifice water coverage or spray intensity in order to achieve water savings. EPA worked with a variety of stakeholders to develop these criteria so that showerheads can be independently tested and certified for both water efficiency and performance.
WaterSense is an EPA partnership program that seeks to enhance the market for water-efficient products and services. WaterSense is both a label for products and a resource to help people use water more efficiently.