Summer is a cool time to start conserving water. And one of the simplest and easiest ways to save water this summer is to toss your highly-inefficient high-flow showerhead with a highly-efficient model.  Doing this now will provide multiple benefits. First, you'll benefit the environment, and you'll also see a good savings on your water bill, because a new low-flow shower head will use much less water.

As you can imagine, most households wind-up using most of their water while showering. Thus, it's a great idea to reduce the flow-rate in your shower. And these days you can find an amazing selection of shower heads on the market. Now here is just how much you'll wind-up saving by simply switching to a low-flow showerhead.

1.5 GPM High-Efficiency ShowerHead

Comparing a low flow showerhead vs. your old high flow showerhead.

Step One: Get your shower's GPM.  That's the flow-rate measured in gallons-per-minute!

Today, virtually all showerheads sold in North America have the standard 2.5 (GPM) gallon per minute maxim. flow rate. Which means that for every minute you're in the shower, you end up using 2 and a half gallons of water. And much of that will be hot water. And of course this hot water has the added costs of higher utility bills. And while 2.5 gallons a minute was considered by most to be a "low-flow" alternative, the newest ultra-lowflow shower heads have been entering the market, and they use just 0.5 to 1.5 gallons-per-minute. Now, compare that with your old high-flow showerhead still being used in some older San Pedro homes that are using between five & ten GPM and you'll begin to see that big savings in water are possible. The newest ultra-low-flow models are available in a plethora of different sizes and designs. 

MOST IMPORTANT: The amount of time spent in your shower

Seven to thirteen minutes. According to the most recent studies, that is the amount of time most people spend showering.  Of course there are always those who choose to spend sixteen, seventeen minutes or more; contrast that with those who are in and out in less than three minutes. If you typically spend awhile showering, you'll save a lot more money & water by trashing your old high flow shower head.

Most studies indicate that the average American takes just one shower per day. 

Check out just how much water you'll save by switching to a low-flow high pressure shower head

If you shower once-per-day for about eight minutes.  

The Old Standard 7 GPM (gallons per minute) high flow shower head:
Showering just once-per-day for an average of eight minutes each. That is a total of 240 minutes. With a high-flow showerhead, this will result in water consumption of around 1680 gallons.

Today's run-of-the-mill 2.5 GPM low flow showerhead:
If we use the same numbers, that's 240 minutes of showering that will result in about 600 gallons of water used. Now you can already see a big difference of 1080 gallons a month, or almost thirteen thousand gallons a year in savings when you compare it to a high-flow unit.

The latest and greatest ultra lowflow 1.5 GPM high-pressure showerheads:

  Now, we use the same numbers. Two hundred forty minutes in the shower per month, multiply that by 1.5 will provide a monthly total of about 360 gallons.  This results in 2880 gallons saved every year when compared to a regular low flow model, and 15840 gallons a year saved when compared to the older high flow showerheads. 

So you can see just how a typical family of four people can easily see a yearly savings of approx. 63000 gallons! As well as a huge savings on the monthly utility gas bill.  And that is only one way you can begin conserving water this summer in San Pedro!  It's quite easy! It's inexpensive! And it's great for the local environment!