#Trump administration seeking to ease environmental standards for shower heads

The US government has proposed loosening environmental standards for shower heads in the wake of complaints from the commander-in-chief about weak-flowing fixtures.

The Department of Energy proposal would effectively allow shower fixtures to include multiple nozzles that would each be allowed to spray out 2.5-gallons per minute — a standard set by Congress in 1992.

But as newer shower fixtures came out with multiple nozzles, the Obama administration in 2013 defined the restrictions to apply to the total flow. So if there are four nozzles, no more than  2.5 gallons should come out between all four in a minute.

Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said the Obama definition of a shower head clashes with what Congress intended, along with standards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

If the rule is adopted, she said it would allow “Americans — not Washington bureaucrats — to choose what kind of showerheads they have in their homes.”

The plan follows recent comments from President Trump during a White House event on changing the regulations, in which he said water simply does not come out fast enough from present-day fixtures.

“So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair – I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect,” Trump said.

“People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once,” the president told a meeting of small business leaders.

Consumer and conservation groups claimed the proposal is unnecessary and wasteful.

With four or five or more nozzles, “you could have 10, 15 gallons per minute powering out of the showerhead, literally probably washing you out of the bathroom,” said Andrew deLaski, head of the energy conservation group Appliance Standards Awareness Project.

DeLaski and officials at Consumer Reports said there’s been no public demand or need for change.

The Department of Energy’s own database of 12,499 shower heads showed 74 percent of them use two gallons or less water per minute, which is 20 percent less than the federal standard.

With Post Wires