The typical shower head uses between 4-5 gallons of water per minute.

The average person takes between a 12-15 minute shower.

4 gallons x 12 minutes= 48 gallons of water per shower.

Multiply that by the average # of people per household in the U.S. (4 people) and that's 192 gallons of water PER DAY used just taking showers- that's not even counting brushing teeth, doing dishes or flushing toilets. Wow! There are plenty of reasons why we should turn off the tap and conserve water including saving money on your utility bill and extending the life of your septic system. Water conservation also helps prevent water pollution in nearby lakes and rivers not to mention the huge amount of energy used cleaning and filtering water after it goes down the drain or after it is flushed.

And there's one very simple thing we can do to help: start taking shorter showers. It's just that easy. If you're accustomed to taking long, luxurious 20 minute showers...try knocking it down to a slightly less luxurious 8 minutes. Then, once that seems normal, try your hand at 5 minutes.

I've been bringing my egg timer in the bathroom with me, setting it for 5 minutes and hoping in the shower and I'll admit that when it goes off I've twice only been at the conditioner stage of showering. But as the days go on I'm getting better and better and soon I'll be a master of the 5 minute shower!

For more information on wasting water, why it's bad and what to do about it go here.