Showerheads

Showering accounts for approximately 17 percent of residential indoor water use in the United States—adding up to more than 1.2 trillion gallons of water each year nationwide. To raise consumer awareness and help improve the water efficiency of showerheads, WaterSense is developing a specification for showerheads (11 pp, 164K, About PDF).

To earn the WaterSense label, showerheads must not only save water, but also perform as well as or better than conventional models on the market. Unlike toilets and faucets, however, there were no universally agreed upon testing protocols for showerhead performance or definition for user satisfaction. To create them, WaterSense collaborated with industry and water-efficiency experts through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers/Canadian Standards Association (ASME/CSA) Joint Harmonization Task Force.

In the future, showerheads bearing the WaterSense label will use no more than 2.0 gallons per minute (gpm), tested at a flowing pressure of 80 pounds per square inch (psi). In addition to the water-efficiency criteria, the draft specification proposes requirements for three key performance attributes identified through consumer testing:

1. Flow rate across a range of pressures
2. Spray force
3. Spray coverage

These new requirements are designed to ensure a high level of performance and user satisfaction with WaterSense labeled showerheads.

Look for the WaterSense label on showerheads in early 2010. Replacing an older, inefficient showerhead with a WaterSense labeled one will help reduce water use in the home and save on both energy and water utility bills. Read the showerheads fact sheet (1 pp, 296K, About PDF) for more information on EPA's draft specification (11 pp, 164K, About PDF).

For more information on EPA's collaboration with the ASME/CSA task force, please see WaterSense: A Consensus-Based, Common Sense Approach for High-Efficiency Showerheads in the February 2009 issue of Plumbing Engineer magazine.

Technical Information
Are you a manufacturer or retailer or distributor interested in learning more? Please visit the Showerheads Specification page for more information.