Trump is right to target showerheads, but he’ll need Congress to finish the job

President Trump is taking another pro-consumer step, this time on showerheads. His April 9^th executive order, Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads, reinstates his 2020 regulatory reform efforts that were derailed during the Biden years. It’s a good start, but the president needs to work with Congress on legislation to provide comprehensive and permanent relief for showerheads as well as other appliances harmed by federal regulations.

Few issues hit home for the president more than the weak flow from federally compliant shower nozzles. “I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair,” he lamented upon explaining his executive order, claiming that “I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes til it gets wet.” The executive order repeals the Biden Department of Energy’s (DOE) “multi-thousand-word regulations defining the word ‘showerhead.’” 

It all started with provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 that place federal limits on water use in showers as well as faucets and toilets. Congress set the maximum flow rate for a residential showerhead at 2.5 gallons per minute (GPM). But the law was unclear about what it meant by a showerhead. Could manufacturers sell units with two or three individual nozzles providing 5.0 or 7.5 GPM, or does the 2.5 GPM limit apply to the whole thing no matter how many nozzles? The Obama DOE preferred the latter definition, then Trump in his first term revised it to the former, and then Biden changed it back. But now, Trump gets the last word.

Or does he? The executive order asserts that the president can change the definition without going through the official rulemaking process, but environmental groups have long been hyper-litigious on appliance regulations and will doubtless sue on this point. The president may lose the case, and in any event the status of multi-showerhead units with overall flows exceeding 2.5 GPM will be in legal limbo for another year or more.

In truth, relatively few homeowners ever opted for the multi-showerhead units. Many others either suffered in silence with weaker showers or tampered with them to increase the flow.

Whether or not President Trump achieves the narrow success of redefining the 2.5 GPM showerhead limit, the administration’s ultimate goal should be to get rid of this federal water use restriction entirely. It should also endeavor to do the same to the federal micromanagement of energy and/or water use in other appliances such as furnaces, dishwashers, air conditioners, washing machines, water heaters, and light bulbs.

Since the appliance red tape started with laws signed by past Congresses and presidents, it will take the current Congress and president to stop it. Let’s hope this executive order is just the start.