ShowerTek's new "Green Choice" showerheads giving consumers more control over how, when they save water in the shower.

The average American spends about eight minutes in the shower and with Federal regulations now limiting showerheads to a maximum flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, that means people consume roughly 20 gallons of water every time they hop in the shower. If the average person takes 6 showers per week, that comes out to 6,240 gallons per year. Factor in kids, roommates and significant others, and that water use in the shower can really add up -- as can the energy required to make it hot.

But beyond simply wanting to conserve water and energy for environmental and economic reasons, some people might need to conserve water for very practical reasons, like making sure there's enough hot water for the next person.

For those people who want a little more control over how much water they use in the shower, they might want to check out the new Green Choice showerheads from ShowerTek.

The review

Since I couldn't very well take my laptop into the shower with me, I thought the next best thing to do would be to hunker down to write the review with the shower experience fresh in my head. Plus it was fun doing a little research while I was getting clean.

My first thoughts were that the pressure coming out of the Green Choice was actually a step-up from my older one. Even though the ShowerTek is actually a low-flow, it didn't feel that way.

The showerhead has a little green dial on top of it that lets you control the water pressure during your shower. In theory, you're supposed to be able to turn it way down (but stay warm) while you lather up and shampoo, then turn the pressure back up to normal as you rinse off. The little knob is the selling point of the Green Choice showerheads -- and for good reason. I found it particularly useful when I wanted to rinse soap off my face, I could easily find the knob and adjust the stream so my eyeballs weren't punished by the full-flow setting.

According to ShowerTek, a family of 4 that spends $400 per year on showers along can cut that figure in half by setting water flow to 1GPM instead of 2.5GPM. But I found the trickle of the lowest setting insufficient for most purposes, but that may also be a function of lower than average water pressure in my home in general. Similarly, the other massage settings on the showerhead didn't do a whole lot to massage, but I imagine that would be different in a different plumbing scenario.

So while the Green Choice from ShowerTek may be great for people who want to conserve water, it might be even better for people who need to save water:  large families, vacation houses, college roommates, or really anyone who might be constricted by the size of their hot water heater. The showerhead will do wonders for people who want to finish getting that soap out of their hair while the water is still hot.

Pros:

Easy to switch between high and low pressure  -- could even do it with my eyes closed.
Stainless steel hose on massage unit.
Kicks up pressure in low-flow houses -- I actually felt like I was getting more water than my previous showerhead when I'm pretty sure I wasn't.
Water saving feature great for small hot water tanks
Reasonably priced: $24.95 for the standard wall unit and $29.95 for the handheld massage unit

Cons:

Plastic housing on showerhead
Excessive and redundant molded plastic packaging
Couldn't get the full benefits of the massage feature at full pressure (though that could be a function of lower pressure at my house)