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It’s about the last thing in our house (that I’m aware of) that isn’t too eco-friendly.  And with all the TV shows talking about how we should be replacing our shower heads with water-saving shower heads, I thought it must be about time to go into the bathroom and plumbing place across the road from work.

Now when the media started talking about CF lightbulbs, suddenly our supermarkets were sold out of them.  It become a boom industry apparently.  I was certain then that I would walk into the store across the road to be greeted with isles full of showerheads, to grab one and walk out with smiling salespeople beaming ‘welcome to the club’

Instead I was given quizzical looks.  “You mean one that uses less water”.  “Well, yes - that’s what the TV tells me”.  “Well, we’ve got this one”.

“This one” looks just like my current one, except they have stuck a limiting valve in there to meet the ratings.  “That’s no good” I complain, “wouldn’t that mean lower pressure?”.  “They are all lower pressure, mate”.

Now, I might be missing something, but couldn’t I get the same result by using my same shower head with the tap turned down?  What I wanted was a shower head that uses less water, because it is designed to use less water - meaning a decent shower.

Choice tells me that the best (low priced) head is the “Flexispray Bermuda II”.. That sounds like a shower head I want to wash under.  I try to buy it online.  I can only find it on a site that offers it to me for $15 (great!).  But wait, it’s Sydney Water, and they won’t sell it to me, because I’m in Melbourne and the reduced price is due to a NSW scheme.  Why don’t we have something like that?  Hang on, we do, but they won’t send one to me because I am a renter.

So after trying to get a water saving shower head, I go home empty handed.  It’s a good thing that we don’t have a water crisis at the moment.