Shower Power

Sometimes when visiting a farm you can still find a small red hand-pump in the yard. Many years ago families got all their water for cooking and cleaning from this pump. Families who used these hand-pumps couldn't help but conserve water, in part because hauling the water inside wasn't very convenient. Today we have faucets in our homes that give us water on-demand. What do you think happened to a family's water usage when this happened? Yes, with increased convenience there was a decrease in conservation of good clean water. When a person turns on typical faucet and takes a five minute shower they use a whopping 25 gallons of water. Imagine having to haul that from your hand-pump to the house before taking a shower!

Today, people who want to help conserve water can buy low-flow shower heads. These shower heads add air to the water and cut the amount of water used from five gallons a minute to two and a half gallons a minute. In a years time you could cut your shower water usage from 10,000 gallons to 5,000 gallons. That's "shower power"!

Now are you wondering if you are using too much water in your shower? Try this test with your parent. You'll need an empty half gallon box type milk carton and a watch with a second hand. Open up the top of the milk carton so it forms a square. Turn on your shower and get in (not with your clothes on of course). Hold the milk carton up to the shower head when the adult with the watch says go; hold it there for 10 seconds. (The adult will tell you when time is up). If the carton overflows in less than 10 seconds, your shower head uses too much water. It's time to consider a low-flow shower head and put "shower power" to work helping you to conserve water. You'll be doing something to help the Earth.