The proposal aims at the maximum flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, introduced by Congress in the 1990s. Under current federal law, each shower in a fixture collectively adds to that limit – but the Department of Energy’s plan would include each shower. can reach the 2.5-gallon-per-minute individually.
“Under the proposed definition of DOE, each shower incorporated into a product with multiple shower heads would be required to comply separately with the 2.5 gpm standard set out in EPCA,” the proposal states, referring to the Energy Policy Act and conservation.
Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes told CNN in a statement, “President Trump has promised the American people that he will reduce mandatory federal regulations on American consumers, and this proposed regulation on showers does just that.”
If adopted, Hynes said, the rule would allow “Americans – not Washington bureaucrats – to choose what kind of shower heads they have in their homes.”
The plan comes days after the president detailed his problems with water flow while delivering comments last Thursday at a Whirlpool factory in Clyde, Ohio.
“You’re moving into a new house, you turn on the tap; no water comes out,” Trump complained. “You turn on the shower – if you’re like me, you can not wash your beautiful hair properly.”
“You’re wasting 20 minutes longer. ‘Please come.’ The water – it drips, right? “
However, Wednesday’s proposal was also scrutinized by some groups of consumer and device standards.
“There is absolutely no need to change current standards for shower heads,” said David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports, in a statement.
“Thanks to the standards, consumers have access to shower heads that not only score well on CR tests and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, but also save money by reducing energy and water consumption.”
That message was refuted by Andrew deLaski, the executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, who called the plan “a gimmick in search of a problem.”
“The new multi-nozzle shower heads would not only waste emergency water, causing shortages due to drought, but also boosting carbon pollution which has reduced drought in the long run,” he said in a statement. “Nobody benefits from this gimmick.”
The president’s width against shower heads is just the latest example of his elongated aversion to poor water flow.
“We have a situation where we are looking very closely at washbasins and showers and other bathroom elements, where you turn on the faucet – and in areas where there is a huge amount of water, where the water flows to the sea, because you could never handle it, and you get no water, “the president said in December during a round table with small business leaders about deregulatory actions.
“You turn on the tap and you do not get water. They take a shower and water comes out of drips. Just drip out, drip very quietly,” the president went on, lowering his voice as he spoke about the drips .
“People flush toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”
CNN’s Donald Judd, Rob Picheta, Nikki Carvajal and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.
.
