According to the Water Research Foundation, showers account for approximately 20% of indoor household water consumption. The average US home uses nearly 10,000 gallons of water per year for showering, making showers the second-largest source of indoor water use after toilets.
Unlike toilets, however, showers use a significant amount of hot water. As a result, showering affects both water bills and energy bills, making it one of the most expensive water-consuming activities in the home.
The total amount of water used for showering depends on three main factors:
According to the EPA, the average American showers approximately once per day, and the average shower lasts about 8 minutes. The average showerhead in the US uses about 2 gallons per minute (gpm). This means the average person in the US uses 16 gallons of water per day to shower, or over 5,800 gallons per year.
Showers are also one of the largest users of hot water in the home. According to the Water Research Foundation, approximately two-thirds (~67%) of shower water is hot water.
It is important to understand the hot water breakdown because every gallon of hot water has two costs:
As a result, reducing shower water consumption often produces larger financial savings than reducing cold-water uses such as toilet flushing.
Because showers affect both water and energy consumption, they can be one of the most expensive water-using activities in a home.
Consider a household member who takes one 8-minute shower every day using a 2-gpm showerhead and uses 67% hot water. This results in approximately:
In addition to the cost of purchasing and treating that water, the household must also pay to heat those 3,800 gallons of hot water.
The exact cost depends on local water and energy prices, the efficiency of the water heater, and the fuel used to heat the water. However, because showers use large amounts of both water and hot water, reducing shower water consumption is often one of the most effective ways to lower combined utility costs.