America has plenty of water. But Joe Biden is trying to make sure that you take showers with as little water as possible, by restricting the flow of water from showerheads. That will make it harder for you to get clean, in the name of “efficiency.” The meager amount of water also means you may feel cold in the shower.
As Christian Britschgi reports:
Even in these uncertain times, we can be sure of one thing the new year will bring: worse, weaker showers.
On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) rolled back a bit of Trump-era deregulation that had allowed Americans to buy multiheaded shower units that emit more water, allowing a warmer, more pleasing cleaning experience.
This was a personal issue for President Donald Trump, who was known to lament the fact that even areas of the country with “tremendous water” had “sinks where the water doesn’t come out….You have showers where I can’t wash my hair properly, it’s a disaster!”
The reason for this disaster: a 2013 regulatory change targeting multiheaded shower units and their supposed violation of energy efficiency regulations.
Since the 1990s, showerheads have been required by law to emit no more than 2.5 gallons of water a minute. In response, some manufacturers started selling shower units with multiple heads that individually complied with that water use limit but together surpassed it.
The 2013 changes required whole shower units to comply with the 2.5 gallons per minute limit. In December 2020, the Trump administration struck one of its few blows for freedom by repealing that rule and allowing multiheaded shower units back onto the market.
The final rule released by President Joe Biden’s DOE yesterday continues the regulatory seesaw by reinstating the 2013 rule. Whole shower units must again spew no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. This new rule goes into effect within 30 days of being published in the Federal Register, which should happen within a few days.
To compensate for the lower flow of water in your shower, you may end up spending more time in the shower just to get clean. That will waste your time — which is ironic, because this limit on shower water volume is being imposed in the name of “efficiency.” But it is anything but efficient.
