If you’re looking to go green, one of the best places to start is by taking a look at one of our daily rituals: taking a shower. Have you ever considered where the water comes from and how much of it is being used?

The EPA estimates that showering accounts for 17 percent of indoor residential water use in the United States. That amounts to an astounding 3.3 billion gallons of water per day, and 1.2 trillion gallons per year. This virtual ocean of water is being removed from delicate aquatic ecosystems and inflicting a great deal of damage on the environment. While some of this water returns to nature through water treatment plants, much of it does not or does so only in polluted form. It should be no surprise, then, that increasing water efficiency must be a top priority of governments and individuals seeking to make a difference for the environment.

One of the best ways to save water is to install a water-saving, low flow shower head. These shower heads are made in ways that create a lower but powerful flow of water so that you sacrifice none of the luxury or comfort you’re used to in your showering routine. Technology can vary from creatively designed orifices that focus the stream and control the size of water droplets, to showerheads that inject air into the water stream to increase the blast.

Low flow shower heads typically use 1.5 to 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm). By contrast, older or non-efficient showerheads use more than 2.5 gpm, with those older than 15 years sometimes using more than 7 gallons per minute!

Not sure if you need one of these fixtures? Perform this test: put a bucket that is marked in gallons under your shower head, then turn on the shower at its normal rate. Use a watch to record how many seconds it takes to fill the bucket to the one-gallon point. If it takes 20 seconds or less then you definitely need a low flow shower head because you’re using a lot more water than necessary.

In addition to helping the environment, there’s also the matter of saving money. Whereas a low flow showerhead could run you as little as $15 (a bit more for higher quality ones), the 20% or more in water savings you’d realize would translate to $50-$75 a year on water bills and another $20-$50 a year on energy bills for heating the water. In other words, the showerhead almost immediately pays for itself.

Installing a new shower head is easy. You usually just unscrew the old one, screw in the new one, and you’re done!

If going green matters to you, there is every reason to change to a water saving shower head. There’s little else you can do that is so easy and yet makes such a big difference for the environment and your pocket without sacrificing one bit of luxury.

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