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Save Water and Energy
by Showering Better
EPA
WaterSense
Your TV and video game system aren't the only things that need energy to keep going. It
takes energy to bring water to your home and school. Energy is also needed to heat that
water when used for showering and hand washing. But did you know that if you use less
water for cleaning and playing, you'll save energy and protect the environment?
Drops Meed Watts
Water and energy work together. Have you ever picked up a
gallon of water or milk from the fridge? It's pretty heavy, right?
A lot of energy is used to carry every gallon of water you use from
a drinking water source to a treatment plant that makes it safe
to drink. After water leaves the treatment plant, more energy is
needed to carry it through water pipes to your house. Imagine
the journey it has taken—and just how tired you would be after
carrying that much water all day!
And the work doesn't stop there. If you want that water to be hot,
it takes energy to warm it up before it hits the tap. Here's some
food for thought—the energy it takes to treat and deliver the
water that just 10 houses use in a year could power your home's
Did You Know?
Water is also used to cool the power
plants that generate the electricity
we use every day. So every time
your television, computer, or lights
use energy, water is being used up
too. In fact, it takes 3,000 to 6,000
gallons of water to power one ,
light bulb left on 12 hours, ^
a day for a year. Turn out _
the lights and save both „
water and energy! > ,,
refrigerator for more than two years!
That's why it's so important not to waste water at home or school. Don't leave the water on when you
brush your teeth. Make sure to turn off the faucet all the way after you wash your hands. If water drips
from the faucet after you turn it off, it could be a leak. Tell an adult so it can be fixed. One of the best
places to save both water and energy at home is in your shower. Besides taking shorter showers, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense® program has some tips for how you and your family can
"shower better."
Showering Facts
The shower is a place where we can clean up, cool off, wake up, or relax after a long day.
But it's also a place where we waste a lot of water and energy! Consider this:
• The average shower lasts eight minutes. Since a standard showerhead has a water
flow of 2.2 gallons per minute, each shower uses 18 gallons of water!
• Across the United States, we use more than one trillion gallons of water each year just for showering.
Never fear! You and your family can still save water and energy. WaterSense has a special label for show-
erheads that use less water but still provide a great spray of water when you shower. If your family uses a
WaterSense labeled showerhead:
• Every shower, you'll save enough electricity to power a 60-watt light bulb for eight hours.
• Every year, you'll save the amount of water it takes to wash more than 70 loads of laundry.
That's a lot of dirty soccer jerseys!
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EPA832-F-13-011
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Every Drop Counts!
See what can happen when you cut your shower time by just one minute (or more if you're
feeling ambitious) by filling in the blanks below. If you don't know how much time you spend
in the shower, just use the average person's time of eight minutes.
1. How long do you spend in each shower?
2. Multiply that by the average shower flow:
3. Multiply your answer for #2 by the number
of times you shower every week:
4. Multiply your answer for #3 by 52 weeks
5. Subtract one minute from your regular
shower time.
6. Multiply that by the average shower flow:
7. Multiply your answer for #6 by the number
of times you shower every week:
8. Multiply your answer for #7 by 52 weeks
9. Subtract your answer for #4 from your answer
for #8
x 2.2 gallons a minute =_
minutes
gallons per week
gallons per year
minutes
x 2.2 gallons a minute =_
gallons per week
gallons per year
gallons saved per year!
Bonus: WaterSense labeled showerheads use less water but still
have power. Estimate how much water they save by recalculating
numbers 6 through 9 above using a shower flow of 2.0 gallons
per minute. Show your parents how much water you can save by
looking for WaterSense when shopping for a showerhead.
Use Your WaterSense
Below are 13 hidden vertical, horizontal, and backwards words re-
lated to saving water and energy. How many words can you find?
ALPLUGVJSXSQQTG
GACFKEYPXQGGAMY
BBJQRNTQBFNBEJE
I EYEKVUXETIESKI
I LGHEIWKDEVLNEH
Y PRACRAWCTAE EJD
X E EVROTPF RSCSGG
QXNEUNTNGWAT RAA
J DEROMSCJOSREUL
ONMASEHJCLMITZL
GPVGENDOLFJCAYO
OMIERTEPRFFIWUN
UDAEHREWOHSTUSE
HGGZQPYXZSAYHMU
DROPSMWJPBYYTHI
AVERAGE
DROPS
ELECTRICITY
ENERGY
ENVIRONMENT
FLOW
GALLON
LABEL
RESOURCE
SAVINGS
SHOWERHEAD
WATERSENSE
WATTS
• There are more than innkfnr
300 million people —
in the United States.
If each person
reduced his or her
shower time by one
minute, we could save a com
bined 165 billion gallons each
year!
• Energy we use at home is
measured in something called
kilowatt hours, or kWh. On aver
age, your home's television uses
26 kWh of electricity per month.
If your family uses WaterSense
labeled showerheads, you save
more than 370 kWh of electricity
per year. With the energy you're
saving, you could you watch 14
months of television!
For more information, visit the
WaterSense Kids' website at
www.epa.gov/watersense/kids.
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