Shower
Use and ecology

Shower usage in the latter half of the 20th century skyrocketed. Personal hygiene became a primary concern, and bathing every day or multiple times a day is common among Western cultures. Showering is generally faster than bathing and can use less water. In an average home, showers are typically the third largest water use after toilets and clothes washers. The average American shower uses 17.2 US gallons (65 L; 14.3 imp gal) and lasts for 8.2 minutes at an average flow rate of 2.1 US gallons (7.9 L; 1.7 imp gal) per minute.

Showering is one of the leading ways people use water in the home, accounting for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use, which roughly equals to 1,200,000,000 US gallons (4.5 × 10 L; 1.00 × 10 imp gal) of water annually just for showering. The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends to retrofit home showers with a shower head that uses less than 2 US gallons (7.6 L; 1.7 imp gal) to conserve water. However, many have hypothesized reducing flow rates of showerheads might cause users to take much longer showers. Other options to save water include using extra high pressure mist flow or design in sensors and valves to shut off or reduce water flow while people are not actively using the shower water.

Various measures can be taken to increase safety for those, especially elderly people, taking showers or baths. Some people take more than one shower each day, normally at their normal shower time, and after exercising. People also shower to cool off in hot weather, especially those unaccustomed to the climate. Used shower water can be employed as greywater.
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