U.S. President, Donald Trump has announced plans to roll back federal regulations limiting water flow in household showers, vowing to “make America’s showers great again.”
Former US leaders Joe Biden and Barack Obama introduced these limits to increase efficiency and conserve water. Where their focus was on the environment, Trump’s order aims to “make America’s showers great again,” a White House fact sheet says.
According to the White House, Trump has instructed the U.S. Secretary of Energy to rescind an Obama-era rule that capped total water flow from multi-nozzle showerheads at 2.5 gallons (9.5 liters) per minute. The regulation, introduced under President Barack Obama, applied the limit to the combined output of all nozzles in a showerhead system, rather than to each nozzle individually.
Criticizing what he called a “radical green agenda,” Trump claimed the current restrictions result in weaker water pressure that unnecessarily prolongs simple tasks, including washing his hair. “You turn on the shower — if you’re like me, you can’t wash your beautiful hair properly,” he said while signing the executive order in the Oval Office.
The White House said the move would lift “excessive regulations that turned a basic household item into a bureaucratic nightmare.” A fact sheet stated: “No longer will showerheads be weak and worthless.”
The rule change would return to the original interpretation of the 1992 Energy Policy Act, which set the limit at 2.5 gallons per minute without clarifying how it applied to multi-nozzle designs. Trump’s revised order allows each individual nozzle to release up to 2.5 gallons per minute, rather than sharing the limit among all nozzles.
However, consumer and environmental groups have raised concerns. The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) noted that federal efficiency standards established over three decades ago have helped reduce water waste, lower utility bills, and protect the environment. ASAP warned that rolling back such standards could lead to increased energy consumption and costs for consumers.
Joe Biden had previously reversed Trump’s 2020 efforts to relax the rule, restoring Obama’s stricter interpretation. The current administration has argued for maintaining water conservation policies, calling the rollback unnecessary and wasteful.
Despite opposition, Trump maintains the rule change reflects Americans’ right to choose how their appliances function, stating: “People pay for their own water and should be free to decide how much pressure they want in their homes.”
The executive order is set to take effect 30 days after the Department of Energy publishes a formal notice rescinding the previous definition
