President Trump’s reversal on tariffs dominated headlines on Wednesday, but he also found time to continue his long-running feud with low-flow shower heads.
The president signed an executive order to loosen a restriction on water flow from shower heads, directing Energy Secretary Chris Wright to rescind a definition of shower heads first implemented by President Barack Obama. It echoes an effort by Mr. Trump’s first administration — later stymied by the Biden administration — to drastically increase the amount of water that showers with multiple nozzles can use.
“No longer will shower heads be weak and worthless,” the White House said in a news release.
Mr. Trump has a long-running crusade against low water pressure, an issue in some New York high-rises. In his first term, he lamented that his showers did not supply enough water for him to achieve his “perfect” hair. He aired that complaint again as he signed the order on Wednesday.
“I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Mr. Trump said. “I stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip, it’s ridiculous.”
The new order restores language from a 1992 federal law that prevented new shower heads from spritzing more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute.
The Obama administration ordered that for showers with multiple nozzles, the 2.5-gallon limit applied to each shower head, not each nozzle.
Toward the end of Mr. Trump’s first term, he enacted a rule that allowed each nozzle to pump out 2.5 gallons, with no restrictions on the total number of nozzles. The Biden administration rescinded that rule in 2021.
