I always get downvoted for saying it, but I don’t care because the real water savings never came from stupid showers: It comes from not growing crops in the damned desert; it comes from not growing grass on lawns in arid environments; it comes from not raising so many cattle.
Most low flow shower heads have a plastic insert in them called a restrictor that can be removed to make it work like the high flow ones.
It’s nothing more than a small cylinder that can be pushed or pulled out from the shower line and manufacturers use these restrictors because it allows them to sell the same unit in multiple markets.
I had to come back here specifically to thank you.
We have a “rainfall” showerhead that has been a huge disappointment since we installed it. Your comment popped into my head today as I was about to jump in the shower. All I had to do was remove a little o-ring and now it works fantastic!
It also cut my shower time in half.
Not that I disagree, but good ones DO have a different system in place. They take in air, to make the drops bigger and it feels like there’s more water being spread out. Doesn’t help with the pressure complaint, but it does really help IMO!
And that does save you money because less energy is used to heat up water.
because the real water savings never came from stupid showers:
Another factor is that your shower water is very probably — unless you have some sort of gray-water irrigation system going on or something — heading to a sewage treatment plant, and if we wanted to do so, we can purify the water there, make that closed loop and feed back into the water supply, recover basically all the water from treatment.
California has been using recycled wastewater for decades. The Ontario Reign minor league hockey team has used it to make ice for its rink in Southern California. Soda Springs Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe has used it to make snow. And farmers in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s vegetables, fruits and nuts are grown, use it to water their crops.
But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.
California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies to take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, following Colorado.
The new rules require the wastewater be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which only require treatment for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.
In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.
“It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.
Plus, in California and a lot of other places, we can (and do) desalinate water.
In November 2012, the Water Authority approved a 30-year Water Purchase Agreement with Poseidon Water for the purchase of up to 56,000 acre-feet of desalinated seawater per year, approximately 10 percent of the San Diego region’s water demand.
It costs more than pulling from a river, and that’s economically-difficult for agriculture…but it’s just not prohibitive for residential use, and there’s a whole ocean of water out there.
Based on current electricity cost estimates, the Water Purchase Agreement sets the price of water at about $3,400/ acre-feet for fiscal year 2024.
An acre-foot of water will, depending upon where in the country you are — usage levels vary by area — supply about one to four households for a year at average usage. And that price is in California; electricity is a major input to desalination, and California has some of the highest electricity prices in the US, generally second only to Hawaii and something like double most of the country. It’ll be significantly cheaper to desalinate water in most other places.
are you saying we shouldnt be allowing the Saudi’s to use billions of gallons of water, to grow tons of alfalfa (one of the most water intensive crops there is) in the middle of the desert, in a drought, just so they can ship it all back home to saudi arabia to use as animal feed?
The other end of that is just as bad. The Saudis raise cattle in the desert because their government wants to encourage its citizens to consume more cow’s milk (you can also buy camel’s milk in supermarkets but it’s very much an acquired taste). There are vast structures to provide shade, and misting systems to keep the cattle cool, all of this in one of the hottest desert environments on earth. The farms are manned by low-paid TCNs who live in abysmal conditions. And the water? Saudi Arabia is mining subterranean aquifers at a mad rate, and it’s not in any way sustainable. So both ends of the supply chain are wasteful abominations.
I always get downvoted for saying it, but I don’t care because the real water savings never came from stupid showers: It comes from not growing crops in the damned desert; it comes from not growing grass on lawns in arid environments; it comes from not raising so many cattle.
Most low flow shower heads have a plastic insert in them called a restrictor that can be removed to make it work like the high flow ones.
It’s nothing more than a small cylinder that can be pushed or pulled out from the shower line and manufacturers use these restrictors because it allows them to sell the same unit in multiple markets.
EDIT: Forgot to add water savings reasons.
I had to come back here specifically to thank you.
We have a “rainfall” showerhead that has been a huge disappointment since we installed it. Your comment popped into my head today as I was about to jump in the shower. All I had to do was remove a little o-ring and now it works fantastic! It also cut my shower time in half.
I’m glad I was able to help, thank you for letting me know. You made my day!
Crazy how simple that is to make such an impact on daily life isn’t it?
Not that I disagree, but good ones DO have a different system in place. They take in air, to make the drops bigger and it feels like there’s more water being spread out. Doesn’t help with the pressure complaint, but it does really help IMO!
And that does save you money because less energy is used to heat up water.
Another factor is that your shower water is very probably — unless you have some sort of gray-water irrigation system going on or something — heading to a sewage treatment plant, and if we wanted to do so, we can purify the water there, make that closed loop and feed back into the water supply, recover basically all the water from treatment.
The UK does it:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/29/uk-drink-sewage-water-squeamish-wastewater-recycle/
California and some other states are doing it:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-is-set-to-become-2nd-state-to-approve-rules-for-turning-wastewater-into-drinking-water
Plus, in California and a lot of other places, we can (and do) desalinate water.
https://www.sdcwa.org/your-water/local-water-supplies/seawater-desalination/
It costs more than pulling from a river, and that’s economically-difficult for agriculture…but it’s just not prohibitive for residential use, and there’s a whole ocean of water out there.
https://www.sdcwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/desal-carlsbad-fs.pdf
An acre-foot of water will, depending upon where in the country you are — usage levels vary by area — supply about one to four households for a year at average usage. And that price is in California; electricity is a major input to desalination, and California has some of the highest electricity prices in the US, generally second only to Hawaii and something like double most of the country. It’ll be significantly cheaper to desalinate water in most other places.
No idea at what point you talk about where the real savings actually come from, but not anywhere after that colon.
It comes from not using huge amounts of water to grow water-intensive crops in the California desert.
And reducing grass in desert areas.
Shutting down the irrigation of all golf courses would be a big win too.
What?
are you saying we shouldnt be allowing the Saudi’s to use billions of gallons of water, to grow tons of alfalfa (one of the most water intensive crops there is) in the middle of the desert, in a drought, just so they can ship it all back home to saudi arabia to use as animal feed?
The other end of that is just as bad. The Saudis raise cattle in the desert because their government wants to encourage its citizens to consume more cow’s milk (you can also buy camel’s milk in supermarkets but it’s very much an acquired taste). There are vast structures to provide shade, and misting systems to keep the cattle cool, all of this in one of the hottest desert environments on earth. The farms are manned by low-paid TCNs who live in abysmal conditions. And the water? Saudi Arabia is mining subterranean aquifers at a mad rate, and it’s not in any way sustainable. So both ends of the supply chain are wasteful abominations.
This.
Yup, I screwed up and forgot to add it. Edited it and did so.