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Wednesday Challenge: take a Navy shower

Posted by Miko on July 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am · 6 Comments

Most Western showers (at a length of about 10 minutes) waste 60 gallons of clean, potable water. [I have no idea where that number came from or how accurate it might be.] In contrast, a “Navy shower” can use as little as 3 (I’m sure I use more than that when I do it). Although I love the feel of hot water sluicing over my body, it does sometimes make me feel guilty. And I don’t think I average 10 minutes in the shower when I’m doing that. Because I spend more time thinking about soaping up, I feel cleaner when I take a Navy shower. And I use less water, which is a nice way to start my day (I’ll drink half a gallon of water when I make my tea, anyway). Try it! Try it a few times a week (that’s the most I’ve gotten up to). You won’t want to do it as often in the winter, but it’s a great summer shower!

Tags: Environment · Weekly Challenge

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 cbiden // Jul 25, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    Thanks for this. I think it’s a good way to conserve water and also to practice mindfulness.

  • 2 nee // Jul 25, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    Actually, I tried this earlier this year. This American Life reran a show on which they were interviewing people on a Navy ship which was in a water conservation phase. I thought I recalled them saying 2 minutes. This is how it was described (as I recall) and this is what I tried:

    1) turn water on long enough to get wet then shut it off
    2) lather up and shampoo hair
    3) turn water on and rinse off hair and body then shut it off

    My experience? Not bad except I was cold during the lather up segment. I took it a step further. I plugged the drain so I could see how much water I used. Then I plugged the drain the next day and took a “regular” length shower. Quite a difference.

    I’d like to try again at doing the Navy shower more often. Due to my aversion to being cold, I haven’t but I do definitely take shorter showers now.

  • 3 Reg // Jul 25, 2007 at 9:21 pm

    nee: I have that issue, too…that’s why I recommend not doing this in the winter :)

  • 4 Cybr // Jul 25, 2007 at 9:54 pm

    Well, except on those times when the water just feels oh so good, I try and keep my shower under 3 to 5 minutes anyways. The problem I have is the plumbing in my place is poorly routed. It is low pressure and it takes about 2.5 minutes just to get hot water to the my bathroom. My trick is I wet my body, shampoo and soap up all at once, then rinse. On rare occasion use of condition to keep the hair nice.

    But, the turn off for while I shampoo & lather is a good way to make up for the 2.5 minutes of waiting for hot water in the first place. (I hate cold showers)

  • 5 c.biden // Jul 29, 2007 at 12:26 am

    One of my friends who is a Zen Buddhist, takes cold showers most days. He treats himself to the occasional hot tub and sauna, but it’s cold showers most of the time, including Winter. brrrrrr.

  • 6 Miko // Jul 29, 2007 at 9:46 pm

    wow, I don’t think I’m that dedicated…

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