Mist showers are showers of the future
If you shower for 10 minutes, you use about 20 gallons of water. That’s 2 gallons per minute, or 2 gpm.
A minute is also about how long it takes for showers to heat up. We know from droughts and conversationists’ spiels that showers use a lot of water and that long showers are bad for your area’s water reserves. Each American city at least has a water tower. And a water tower for a single town holds enough water for a day. It goes quick when it doesn’t rain.
If you’ve experienced a drought before, you may have taken a military shower which last 2 or 3 minutes and uses 5 gallons of water. It takes time to get used to, but it’s effective. The bare need is met in that time, but that’s not the usual case for most of us. Most American’s take a 7 to 8 minute long shower, which is 16 gallons of water. As Earth’s climate continues to change, more and more people will be exposed to drought conditions. People will be forced into using less water. Quick showers with low pressure. It’ll make you miss a good shower.
And a great shower is a flow restrictor away. There’s one in your showerhead unless you already removed it. You spend an extra gallon per minute but the trade-off is an incredible, strong shower. Good water pressure makes a difference in our mood.
A shower disappoints when water pressure is low. Low pressure showers aren’t as good at rinsing soap out of hair, which cause longer shower times. There are two areas of concern for regulating water flow and experiencing a satisfying shower: water pressure and water dispersion.
If you’ve ever used a showerhead with different settings, you’ve played with how each setting feels. Rain settings are the standard. Some settings massage your back with a thick stream but they aren’t practical for washing hair. And some allow for mist, which most people don’t use.
A good shower is warm and full. You want the temperature just right and the spray needs wide coverage. Most people want a shower with wide rain and good water pressure. The trouble is, our 8 minute showers use too much water under drought conditions. If we want to stretch the amount of time we spend in a shower from 2 minutes to 8 minutes, we need to use less water per minute. And there’s a diminishing return on a rain shower with water pressure that’s too low.
Mist is the better option.
Mist settings are the best choice for water conservation. They can drop water usage to 1 gallon per minute, sometimes even less. But your basic ones aren’t as good. The pressure isn’t strong so they aren’t as satisfying or as warm as the rain setting. Those mist settings usually still pump out 2 gpm, anyway.
It would be better if we could adjust the mist to have concentrated pressure. Which, these types of showerheads exist, but you have to go out of your way to buy that specific feature. And most people just use rain.
Mist disperses the widest. It’s good at keeping the body warm using the least amount of water. It’s the best bet for compromising water conservation and comfort. When water is limited, the best shower lasts more than 2 minutes. If you can swing it financially, it may soon be worth getting a built-in shower water heater and an adjustable, mist showerhead sooner than later.