A Semi Humorous Rant About Showers And Conserving Water

I like a good shower. That means that (1) the shower nozzle is above my head  so that I do not have to bend down to get my hair wet. I am never sure why some plumbers/bathroom designers think that all shower users are only five foot five and therefore the shower heads are installed so low that I could have a shower and never get my hair wet. Fortunately probably two thirds of the showers that I use are marginally high enough.

My second need for it to be a good shower is that the water coming out of the nozzle, does so with some force. The most popular shower heads are those that sprinkle down water like a gentle rain shower. That does not work for me. I want a torrent of water blasting away at me. If the top layer of my epidermis is not scoured off by the water ...it never feels like a real shower. In Canada, it is becoming an impossibility to have a truly satisfying shower. Unless one is fortunate enough to have a shower in a house where the owners have carefully protected  their 20 year old shower head or you are travelling and get to stay in a road side motel that has not upgraded their decor in the past 20 years (there are, perhaps not surprisingly, a rather large number of these motels scatted across the Canadian landscape) one is out of luck. Those nozzles are illegal. You can't buy them in Canada. Why? Because some bleeding heart and misguided fool (contrary to what neo-liberals believe - those two descriptors are not always connected) decided that we needed to conserve water. It was further agreed by all that the best way to conserve water would be to reduce the use of water by folks taking a shower.

No one seems to have pointed out that those of us who take showers already are conserving water as compared to those who consume far more water by having a bath. But there are some people who consume far more water than I do and a daily basis. Their access to that water is unrestricted. In fact they are encouraged to consume excess water by a wide range of public health practitioners. I am, of course, referring to all of those people who follow the Canada Food Guide and eat their daily serving of meat and vegetables.

The Beef Cattle Research Council suggests that it takes anywhere from 3700 litres to 20,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of beef. I suspect the amounts are so varied depending upon how that cow is raised and what feed it is given. In another article from the same organization it suggest that it takes eight gallons of water for every pound of beef. According to a Stats Canada report from 2001 (I could not find more current data but I cannot imagine that the amount of water has gone down in the past 14 years) Canadian farmers used 4,424,600 thousand cubic meters of water to irrigate their crops (1 cubic metre= 220 imperial gallons or 1000 litres). That is a lot of water.  Over 85% of the water used in Canadian agriculture is used for irrigation. 50% of that water is used to irrigate crops used solely for the production of meat. Stop eating meat and we will save a whole lot of water.

While we are saving water, why don't we stop eating lettuce. I can't find the amount of water used to grow lettuce in Canada but whatever the amount  - it is wasted. I like lettuce but given its very low nutritional value - I would rather have a decent shower instead.

And finally the almond. California (that place that has been experiencing drought for the past four or so years) produces approximately 80% of all of the almonds eaten in North America. According to the publication Mother Jones, each almond takes one gallon (American) to grow (walnuts take five gallons). Just under 3.5 billion cubic metres are used to irrigate almonds in California. I like almonds..... I like almonds a lot but I would rather do without them. If I ate 8 less almonds a week - I could have at least one shower a week with decent pressure.

 I appreciate the concern about water usage. I understand that we all need to do our part. But I do wish we would stop these impulses to solve the problem in the easiest way possible. I wish that we could accept that if we are going to deal with some of these problems, we are going to need to understand the whole problem. Making sure that there is enough water for all means that we are going to have to make some fundamental life choices. For many that means that they are going have to give up some things. I am just not too sure why I have to give up having a decent shower while those who eat meat, lettuce and almonds get a free ride.