The Trump administration has rolled back flow restrictions on showerheads, which President Trump has repeatedly complained force people to use more water, not less.
“Showerheads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” Trump said at a campaign event in July. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. 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. Perfect.”
Trump has also complained that “people are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times.”
But on Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) rolled back the low-flow restriction on showerheads and also created a new classification of quick-cycle washers and dryers that meet lower energy efficiency standards.
“Today the Trump Administration affirmed its commitment to reducing regulatory burdens and safeguarding consumer choice,” Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said in a release. “With these rule changes, Americans can choose products that are best suited to meet their individual needs and the needs of their families.”
The DOE rule changes the definition “showerhead,” allowing “different components within the device to count as individual fixtures, sidestepping requirements that allow no more than 2.5 gallons to flow through per minute,” The Hill reported.
The earlier definition, set by Congress in 1990 and interpreted by the Obama administration in 2013, limited a device with multiple showerheads to maximum output of 2.5 gallons. But the new definition says each “showerhead” can have a separate 2.5 gallon per minute limit.
“Congress has mandated a 2.5 gallon per minute limit on showerheads. DOE’s definition, now in line with the consensus standards from ASME, states that each showerhead can emit up to the statutory limit. The prior definition, as interpreted by the Obama administration in 2013, stated that a device with multiple showerheads could only release 2.5 gallons per minute for the entire device. Today’s change will allow manufacturers to offer consumers new products that can provide more water and more comfort,” the DOE said in its statement.
According to the DOE’s summary of the rule, the definition of “body spray” and “safety showerhead” was also changed so they are no longer subject to the regulations imposed on showerheads.
The measures were opposed by green groups and consumer groups, The Hill reported.
“There is absolutely no need to change current showerhead standards,” David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports and a former DOE official during the Obama administration, told the political website. “Thanks to the standards, consumers have access to showerheads that not only score well on [Consumer Reports] tests and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction, but also save consumers money by reducing energy and water consumption.”
But Trump has long said the regulations cause people to use more water.
“We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on — and in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don’t get any water,” the president said last December during a roundtable with small business leaders about deregulatory actions.
“You turn on the faucet and you don’t get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out. Just dripping out, very quietly dripping out.”