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The standard American shower doesn't even have pressure control - a single knob goes from off, to cold, to hot, at constant (high pressure). I'm in a Californi

The standard American shower doesn't even have pressure control - a single knob goes from off, to cold, to hot, at constant (high pressure). I'm in a Californian hotel right now, and I need to redirect 75% of the water to the bath faucet to have a shower at reasonable pressure. A lot of wasted water. With proper pressure control in showers, and abandoning lawn watering (naturalscaping/xeriscaping looks better and is much more pollinator friendly anyway) we can cut a lot of household water use.

theandrewbailey 4y ago
Virtually all American hotel showers are like that (one knob). Most American home showers are not, and have separate hot and cold knobs allowing pressure control.
- CincinnatiMan 4y ago
  I’m American and I’ve never seen the two knob style except in media. Wonder if it’s a regional thing or old house thing. I’ve only lived in homes built since the 80s, in the Midwest and southeast.
  - dude187 4y ago
    Two knobs is an older style, but lots of single knob style rotate side to side to set temperature and move up and down to set pressure
vineyardmike 4y ago
Most water in California is not used by households. If you make Californians stop showering at all it still wouldn’t solve the problem. I think pressure control in showers could be useful (?) but is ultimately a you issue (who wants less water pressure when showering?). Showering won’t solve Californias issues. It’ll just piss off the electorate. I agree with home landscaping though which is something like 50% of household water. It still only accounts for like 5% of total consumption across the state.
bsder 4y ago
The problem is that "household" water use isn't California's problem, and the people have figured this out. You could reduce household water usage to zero, and it wouldn't fix the problem. California will either stomp on the agribusinesses or the water problems will continue. It's that simple.
- musicale 4y ago
  The plan seems to be to reduce residential water usage by 15% per year. There is a point of diminishing returns, as you note.
musicale 4y ago
> I'm in a Californian hotel right now, and I need to redirect 75% of the water to the bath faucet to have a shower at reasonable pressure. A lot of wasted water. Please let me know if it is a chain, because nearly every hotel I've stayed at has abysmal shower water pressure, probably due to California's mandatory flow-limiting fixtures (currently a paltry 1.8 gallons/minute vs. the federal maximum of 2.5gpm. Prior to regulation a typical rate was 3.5gpm apparently.) Most shower heads I'm familiar with do have some kind of flow control, but that obviously only reduces it further. Add in some awful low-flow toilets (currently 1.28 gallons/flush max) that don't flush properly and it's a recipe for misery. I usually mention these issues when the hotel asks me for feedback, but of course nothing changes.

theandrewbailey 4y ago

Virtually all American hotel showers are like that (one knob). Most American home showers are not, and have separate hot and cold knobs allowing pressure control.

CincinnatiMan 4y ago
I’m American and I’ve never seen the two knob style except in media. Wonder if it’s a regional thing or old house thing. I’ve only lived in homes built since the 80s, in the Midwest and southeast.
- dude187 4y ago
  Two knobs is an older style, but lots of single knob style rotate side to side to set temperature and move up and down to set pressure

vineyardmike 4y ago

Most water in California is not used by households. If you make Californians stop showering at all it still wouldn’t solve the problem. I think pressure control in showers could be useful (?) but is ultimately a you issue (who wants less water pressure when showering?). Showering won’t solve Californias issues. It’ll just piss off the electorate. I agree with home landscaping though which is something like 50% of household water. It still only accounts for like 5% of total consumption across the state.

bsder 4y ago

The problem is that "household" water use isn't California's problem, and the people have figured this out. You could reduce household water usage to zero, and it wouldn't fix the problem. California will either stomp on the agribusinesses or the water problems will continue. It's that simple.

musicale 4y ago
The plan seems to be to reduce residential water usage by 15% per year. There is a point of diminishing returns, as you note.

musicale 4y ago

> I'm in a Californian hotel right now, and I need to redirect 75% of the water to the bath faucet to have a shower at reasonable pressure. A lot of wasted water. Please let me know if it is a chain, because nearly every hotel I've stayed at has abysmal shower water pressure, probably due to California's mandatory flow-limiting fixtures (currently a paltry 1.8 gallons/minute vs. the federal maximum of 2.5gpm. Prior to regulation a typical rate was 3.5gpm apparently.) Most shower heads I'm familiar with do have some kind of flow control, but that obviously only reduces it further. Add in some awful low-flow toilets (currently 1.28 gallons/flush max) that don't flush properly and it's a recipe for misery. I usually mention these issues when the hotel asks me for feedback, but of course nothing changes.