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Americans take cleanliness seriously — to the point that the average American reports taking about 6 showers per week, helping fuel a multibillion-dollar body soap industry. But while we’re all for good hygiene (no one likes being stuck next to a foul-smelling person on a bus or plane), it’s worth pausing for a moment to think about just how much water all of this bathing consumes on a national scale.

Showers are usually the third largest use of water in the typical American home, accounting for around 17 percent of the water we use indoors. And according to Home Water Works, a website created by the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the average shower is 8.2 minutes and uses 17.2 gallons of water. Baths use even more water, about 35-50 gallons of water on average.

Knowing that the average American showers about 6 times per week (according to multiple surveys from Euromonitor, SCA, and others), that means the typical person uses 5,336.4 gallons of water showering each year. But here’s where it gets really scary. With an estimated population of 325.7 million according to the US Census Bureau, Americans as a whole use a total of 1.7 trillion gallons a year showering. That’s 33.6 billion gallons of water every week! And remember, this is a conservative estimate that doesn’t factor in those who take baths, which use 2-3 times more water. It’s hard to visualize just how much 1.7 trillion gallons of water really is, but let’s try to put that into perspective:

It’s enough to fill 2.6 million Olympic swimming pools

It’s enough to fill all the NFL and Division 1 college football stadiums more than 10 times over

It’s more than the capacity of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee

It’s more than 15% of the water needed to replenish California’s drought losses, according to NASA

It’s enough to fulfill the water usage of New York City for nearly 5 years

Shower Water Usage by State

How much water do residents in your state use every year just running the shower? Check out the map above to see the biggest users.

Here’s the full data:

State Gallons Used Showering Annually (in Billions, Rounded) 1. California 211 2. Texas 151 3. Florida 112 4. New York 106 5. Pennsylvania 68 6. Illinois 68 7. Ohio 62 8. Georgia 56 9. North Carolina 55 10. Michigan 53 11. New Jersey 48 12. Virginia 45 13. Washington 40 14. Arizona 37 15. Massachusetts 37 16. Tennessee 36 17. Indiana 36 18. Missouri 33 19. Maryland 32 20. Wisconsin 31 21. Colorado 30 22. Minnesota 30 23. South Carolina 27 24. Alabama 26 25. Louisiana 25 26. Kentucky 24 27. Oregon 22 28. Oklahoma 21 29. Connecticut 19 30. Iowa 17 31. Utah 17 32. Arkansas 16 33. Nevada 16 34. Mississippi 16 35. Kansas 16 36. New Mexico 11 37. Nebraska 10 38. West Virginia 10 39. Idaho 9 40. Hawaii 8 41. New Hampshire 7 42. Maine 7 43. Rhode Island 6 44. Montana 6 45. Delaware 5 46. South Dakota 5 47. North Dakota 4 48. Alaska 4 49. Vermont 3 50. Wyoming 3

Shower Water Usage in America’s Top Cities

America’s 20 biggest cities together use about 184 billion gallons of water annually just from showering. Here’s how much each city uses on its own:

City Gallons Used Showering Annually (in Billions, Rounded) New York City 46 Los Angeles 21.3 Chicago 14.5 Houston 12.3 Phoenix 8.7 Philadelphia 8.4 San Antonio 8.1 San Diego 7.6 Dallas 7.2 San Jose 5.5 Austin 5.1 Jacksonville 4.8 San Francisco 4.7 Columbus 4.7 Fort Worth 4.7 Indianapolis 4.6 Charlotte 4.6 Seattle 3.9 Denver 3.8 Washington, DC 3.7

How to Reduce Your Shower Water Usage

We live in a world where drought plagues us both close to home (California) and in many places far away (such as Ethiopia), and water scarcity issues are expected to worsen in the years to come. It’s important for everyone to consider their water footprint and to take steps to reduce it where possible. Even if you don’t live in an area where droughts are a serious concern, there’s still the fact that running a shower (especially a hot one) consumes energy. It takes energy to treat, deliver, and heat the water to your home, and once that water goes down your tub drain, it takes energy to treat it again before it can be reused. Plus, with water utility rates rising at over 3x the rate of inflation, you’ll want to save on your bill wherever possible. With that in mind, there are a few things we can all do to use less water in the shower:

Use a low-flow showerhead. Regular showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute, but a low-flow showerhead uses 2 gallons of water per minute or less. To put that into perspective, if everyone in the US switched to a low-flow showerhead, we’d save over 300 billion gallons of water each year from that alone.

Regular showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute, but a low-flow showerhead uses 2 gallons of water per minute or less. To put that into perspective, if everyone in the US switched to a low-flow showerhead, we’d save over 300 billion gallons of water each year from that alone. Spend less time in the shower. If you’re someone who likes a long, hot shower, try to cut back on the amount of time you spend in the shower. It’s the easiest and least expensive way to conserve water.

If you’re someone who likes a long, hot shower, try to cut back on the amount of time you spend in the shower. It’s the easiest and least expensive way to conserve water. Capture and reuse the cold water that comes out when waiting for the shower to warm up. By putting a bucket in the shower when you first turn it on, you can use the water you catch while waiting for it to warm up for other purposes, like watering your plants or cleaning tasks.

We’d love to know: How often do you shower every week? How long are your showers?