EPA Wants to Monitor How Long Hotel Guests Spend in the Shower

[Wilikon]

$15,000 grant creating device to “modify” guests behavior



The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants hotels to monitor how much time its guests spend in the shower.

The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to “modify their behavior.”

“Hotels consume a significant amount of water in the U.S. and around the world,” an EPA grant to the University of Tulsa reads. “Most hotels do not monitor individual guest water usage and as a result, millions of gallons of potable water are wasted every year by hotel guests.”

“The proposed work aims to develop a novel low cost wireless device for monitoring water use from hotel guest room showers,” it said. “This device will be designed to fit most new and existing hotel shower fixtures and will wirelessly transmit hotel guest water usage data to a central hotel accounting system.”

The funding is going toward creating a prototype and market analysis for the device. The goal of the project is to change the behavior of Americans when they stay at hotels.

“This technology will provide hotel guests with the ability to monitor their daily water online or using a smartphone app and will assist hotel guest in modifying their behavior to help conserve water,” the grant said.

The project was filed under “Water conservation,” “Urban water planning,” and “Sustainable water management.”

The EPA also has a WaterSense program that challenges hotels to track their water use and upgrade their restrooms with low-flow toilets and showerheads.

The program also encourages “linen and towel reuse programs” in guest rooms.

The EPA is concerned that the average shower, which lasts just eight minutes, uses 18 gallons of water, and has asked Americans to reduce their shower length by at least one minute.

Tyler W. Johannes, Ph.D., an associate professor in the University of Tulsa’s School of Chemical Engineering who is working on the project, told the Washington Free Beacon that the researchers hope to see the technology “adopted by all major hotels and used across the country.”

He said the device seeks to get hotel guests to limit their showers to seven minutes as a start.

Johannes and his team assumed the average hotel shower lasts 8.2 minutes, using 17.2 gallons of water per guest per shower.

“Initially our device/app seeks to get hotel guests to reduce their water use by 10 percent or to reduce their showers by about one minute,” he said.

Johannes provided a link to Home Water Works, which recommends taking a five minute shower to reduce water use.

The website, which is a project of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, also suggests watering plants with discarded cold water from showers that take a long time to heat up, and taking “navy showers.”

“The method requires three steps: 1) turn on water to rinse body and hair; 2) turn off water while shampooing hair and washing body with soap and washcloth; 3) resume water flow and rinse off all shampoo and soap,” the group said. “Using this technique, the total duration of water flow can easily be reduced to 5 minutes or less.”


http://freebeacon.com/issues/epa-wants-to-monitor-how-long-hotel-guests-spend-in-the-shower/

[jaysabi]

You're again trying to say the EPA is proposing a policy based on a research grant they made. This is not true. Further, your bolded statements are not from anyone from the EPA, but the guy doing research.

EPA does not want to monitor anything. EPA encourages hotels to monitor water usage. Note they do not require it, but encourage it, as in a suggestion. Do you see the difference?

Since nothing about any of these programs listed are mandatory, I don't see the harm in advocating for conservation efforts by the EPA. That's far better than passing mandatory rules. Where conservation makes financial sense for hotels, I trust they're happy to have suggestions or programs that will help them cut down their energy or water expenses.

[Spendulus]

You're again trying to say the EPA is proposing a policy based on a research grant they made. This is not true. Further, your bolded statements are not from anyone from the EPA, but the guy doing research.

EPA does not want to monitor anything. EPA encourages hotels to monitor water usage. Note they do not require it, but encourage it, as in a suggestion. Do you see the difference?

Since nothing about any of these programs listed are mandatory, I don't see the harm in advocating for conservation efforts by the EPA. That's far better than passing mandatory rules. Where conservation makes financial sense for hotels, I trust they're happy to have suggestions or programs that will help them cut down their energy or water expenses.

The bolded above is absolutely, completely false.

As for what the EPA "wants," they certainly do want to strong arm force policy on water.

EG, mandatory low flow showerheads and commodes.

FYI, I print high flow showerheads on a 3d printer....

[Wilikon]

You're again trying to say the EPA is proposing a policy based on a research grant they made. This is not true. Further, your bolded statements are not from anyone from the EPA, but the guy doing research.

EPA does not want to monitor anything. EPA encourages hotels to monitor water usage. Note they do not require it, but encourage it, as in a suggestion. Do you see the difference?

Since nothing about any of these programs listed are mandatory, I don't see the harm in advocating for conservation efforts by the EPA. That's far better than passing mandatory rules. Where conservation makes financial sense for hotels, I trust they're happy to have suggestions or programs that will help them cut down their energy or water expenses.

Do you have something like the EPA in UK?

[Chef Ramsay]

Monitoring showers at hotels seems just retarded because people are on vacation typically or on work related trips so they're likely to want to enjoy a longer shower/bath thus using more warm water. Especially if you're at a casino hotel room with palatial showers at $400+ per night, you're definitely going to get a few showers in at 10-15 mins a pop to get your money's worth.

[Rishblitz]

Just another way for the government to control something I need.

[pattu1]

The EPA is concerned that the average shower, which lasts just eight minutes, uses 18 gallons of water, and has asked Americans to reduce their shower length by at least one minute.

He said the device seeks to get hotel guests to limit their showers to seven minutes as a start.

8 minutes doesn't seem like much.
If the EPA feels that water usage in hotels is high, they should ask the hotels to treat the waste water and use it for gardening/flushing toilets etc. Focusing on reducing the shower time of guests seems too intrusive.

[Spendulus]

The EPA is concerned that the average shower, which lasts just eight minutes, uses 18 gallons of water, and has asked Americans to reduce their shower length by at least one minute.

He said the device seeks to get hotel guests to limit their showers to seven minutes as a start.

8 minutes doesn't seem like much.
If the EPA feels that water usage in hotels is high, they should ask the hotels to treat the waste water and use it for gardening/flushing toilets etc. Focusing on reducing the shower time of guests seems too intrusive.

All righty then.

I'm going for 10.