Part of the Tap into Savings home visit is to look at the shower, as this can be one of the biggest uses of hot water in a home, especially if you don’t keep track of how long you spend in there! There has been a lot of advice about taking a shower instead of a bath. However, this only saves water if you take a relatively short shower.

We have two free products to help people to save water. The first is a very simple shower timer, which helps people remember about taking a short shower. This way you can have a quick refreshing shower that does save you water.

Recent research in Australia showed that a different device, which worked on a similar principle, helped people to reduce the average time in the shower from just over 7 minutes to 5 minutes 50 seconds. This is the kind of difference which doesn’t have a big impact on a person’s lifestyle, but which can add up to big savings over the course of a year. (This research was publicised though the Science for Environment Policy news alert service.)

The second thing we’ll look at is what type of shower you have. Electric showers are already water efficient, so we won’t make any changes in this case. However, showers which are fed from mains hot water probably use more water than they need to. Thanks to the water companies involved in Tap into Savings we are able to offer water efficient showerheads. These mix air with the water, which means the shower feels better whilst using less water.

We’ve now installed a lot of these showerheads and are getting very good feedback from those who’ve had them fitted.  During an EcoTeam meeting in Tile Hill, Coventry, one of the team members told me she was particularly pleased with her showerhead as it had three settings, which meant she could choose the flow pattern she preferred.

For more information about how to save water from showers see the information on the Waterwise website:

http://www.waterwise.org.uk/showerpower/

http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk/house_and_garden/showers_at_home.html