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For more than 25 years, Congress has directed U.S. government agencies to set and efficiency standards for many new products. These measures conserve resources and . Until recently, they .

But President Trump has turned efficiency standards into symbols of intrusive government. His administration has opposed many of these rules, including standards for , and . His latest target: showerheads.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992, passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush, set the maximum flow rate for showers at . President Trump is proposing to increase the rate, which he calls inadequate to wash his "."

It may sound funny, but it's not. water law and policy, I know that the U.S. water supply is . Most Americans take water for granted, but as population growth and climate change , experts increasingly argue that water policy should

When is a showerhead not a showerhead?

On Aug. 13, the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to for showerheads. The documentation prints out at 25 pages of mind-numbing rationalization. Its definition of showerheads exemplifies the byzantine logic behind this policy shift.

For example, the proposed rule provides of fixtures with between three and eight heads attached to a single pipe coming out of the wall. So long as none of the individual heads has a flow greater than 2.5 gallons per minute, the measure asserts that each fixture satisfies Congress's quest for water and energy conservation.

How can the Energy Department allow shower fixtures with as many as eight heads, each emitting 2.5 gallons per minute? For context, defines a showerhead as a "fixture for directing the spray of water in a bathroom shower."

But the proposed rule interprets "showerhead" to mean "an accessory to a supply fitting for spraying water onto a bather." With this sleight of hand, a congressional rule limiting showerhead flows can be deftly avoided by installing a hydra-headed fixture with multiple "showerheads," each flowing at 2.5 gallons per minute.

The agency also released a of a wall fixture with seven nozzles, which the rule would not subject to the 2.5 gallons per minute maximum. The Energy Department deems these fixtures a "body spray" rather than a showerhead because they are "usually located" below the bather's head. (Of course, the person showering may be short, or the plumber may install the fixture high on the shower wall.) Body sprays may have with no flow limits.

The sad part of this foolishness is that the , which identifies water-efficient projects and promotes water conservation, has been spectacularly successful, at virtually no cost to consumers or the regulated community. Showers constitute . That's 40 gallons per day for the average family, or 1.2 trillion gallons annually in the United States.

WaterSense fixtures and appliances have saved Americans since the program began in 2006. Low-water-use fixtures—including showerheads, toilets and washing machines—are now the accepted norm across the United States.

Some early products, such as the first high-efficiency toilets, had some hiccups. But that was 20 years ago. Today, notwithstanding President Trump's declaration that "," consumers embrace low water-use fixtures because they .

Tapped out

Today the United States faces serious water problems. Georgia and Florida are fighting a prolonged battle over . Excessive groundwater pumping is causing . As I explain in my book, "," farmers are competing with cities for water.

COVID-19 has helped to make the affordability of water a national issue. Some rural areas, such as the Navajo Nation, where many people need to , have higher rates of coronavirus infection. People who have lost their jobs find themselves , which in turn compromises the financial stability of water providers.

Allowing showers to use more water would have several unfortunate consequences for cities across the country. It would increase the amount of water cities must treat; raise the chances of raw sewage overflows at water treatment plants—especially in cities such as Washington, D.C. that ; and increase the amount of energy used to pump and treat water.

Disrupting low-flow fixture rules would create special hardships for western cities, such as and , that have struggled with water shortages for decades. Both cities their between the 1980s and 2020, despite rapid population growth, partly by converting residences to low water-use fixtures.

Water is not just another natural resource. Without it our bodies cease to function, our crops dry up, and our economy grinds to a halt. We can't make any more water, so it makes sense to use the water we have wisely.

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