We all (hopefully) shower multiple times a week. When showering, according to Boston University, for every minute your are in the shower five gallons of water are used. I tend to take on average ten minute showers, that means that I use fifty gallons of water each shower. Multiple that by the number of days a week and I use about 350 gallons of water per week just by showering. If I simply reduced my shower time to five minutes I would cut that total water usage in half, not only saving water, but also energy. Since we prefer to shower in warm water, we also use energy. According to the Washington Post,  water heating itself accounts for almost 17 percent of total home electricity. With all of this is mind, taking a shorter shower would be a simple first step to reducing your water footprint plus also a bonus of saving energy.

As you can see in the graph above a ten minute shower uses about 190 liters of water, simply cutting your shower time in half brings it down to 95 liters of water, you would save half the amount of water. 

Now the question is how do you reduce your shower time because for many of us it is hard to leave the warmth of the water after five minutes. The Shower Power organization came up with a few tips on how to make this transition to shorter showers easier. Play a song and by the time it is over you know to wrap up your shower. Use a water saving app that will time you and have some sort of reward for the shorter shower you take. Overall, at the end of the day you are saving a little bit of the planet by using less water and energy and plus you will save a little money.

Resources

“Important Announcement.” Sustainability Take Shorter Showers Comments, www.bu.edu/sustainability/what-you-can-do/ten-sustainable-actions/take-shorter-showers/.

Mooney, Chris. “Your Shower Is Wasting Huge Amounts of Energy and Water. Here’s What You Can Do about It.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/04/your-shower-is-wasting-huge-amounts-of-energy-and-water-heres-what-to-do-about-it/.