Take a five minute shower and you'll save 30 gallons of water a day.
We don't shower just to wash ourselves: We also use it as an opportunity to sing, shave, wake up, warm up, and think. That's probably why the average American adult spends 10.4 minutes in the shower. And then there are teenagers, who often shower until the hot water is gone. Worse still, if your shower has an older (pre-1994) showerhead, it's gushing out five to seven gallons per minute. And most of that is heated, which increases greenhouse emissions. With inefficiency and rising human populations we're quickly draining precious freshwater systems.
How can you help? Switch to a lowflow showerhead, which dispenses 2.5 gallons a minute, reducing water use by half, allowing a family of four to save more than 30,000 gallons of water a year. To save even further, consider using a shower timer to shorten your stay behind the curtain.
Something like Sassafras The Little Cook manual animal kitchen timers ($8 each; www.wrapables.com) add fun to function. Turn their heads and let them count for you.
Or you can try timers made specifically for this task. Rotate the five-minute Shorter Shower ($6; www.amconservationgroup.com) or Shower Coach ($5; www.greenfeet.com) and press its suction cup to the wall; by the time the sand runs to the bottom, you should be clean.
The magnetic Lux Electronic Minute Minder ($8; www.bedbath.com) is easy to read, has a loud ringer, and keeps ticking even if it falls in the water. If you want a real challenge, take the Navy shower: Turn on the water, get wet, then turn off the water; soap and scrub, then turn on the water and rinse off. The water runs for all of two minutes, cutting water consumption by 83 percent.
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