The Washington Post published an article yesterday about how much water is wasted when people are showering. As Jonah Schein, a technical coordinator for homes and buildings for the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program, states in the article, “Typically 20 percent of every shower, the duration, is essentially lost.”

This waste can be because of “behavioral waste”, which is waste because of our habits. Here’s an example of that - wasting water when you turn on the shower but don’t get in right away because it’s too cold and then it continues to run even when warm.

The simplest way to help you at home may be to install an EPA-certified shower head. The EPA’s WaterSense program labels water efficient shower heads to help out consumers. More information on that program can be found on EPA’s WaterSense website.