by Marcia

Perhaps we should all consider taking up Benjamin Franklin’s practice of taking air baths.

Does your bathroom seem crowded these days? First there were the toilet police, then the light bulb guys. Now there is someone in your shower.

The DOE got into your shower by reinterpreting a 1992 federal law. The law said that a shower-head could deliver no more than 2.5 gallons per minute at a flowing water pressure of 80 pounds per square inch. Shower-head was understood to mean a device that directs water at the bather. Each nozzle in the shower-head was considered separate and in compliance if it delivered no more than the 2.5 gallon maximum.

That interpretation has been washed away by a new DOE diktat that defines a shower-head as incorporating “one or more sprays, nozzles or openings.” Thus, if all the aforesaid together exceed the 2.5 gallons a minute maximum, the maker of the shower-head is out of compliance and subject to drowning in hefty fines. By the way, better tell grandma to lay in a supply of those hand-held sprays she uses while sitting on her shower bench. They may not be available later.

But back to you and your bathroom. Take good care of the shower-head you have because you will have fewer choices when you have to replace it. Those poor souls who bought homes after the first wave of Low Flow toilets were installed still can’t make them work properly.

While you’re at it, be careful how much water you use brushing your teeth. The bathroom is already too crowded.