Madison Utility Tries ‘Unusual' Approach To Conservation With Giveaway

The utility in Madison, WI, is trying a new tactic to encourage conservation among ratepayers: a massive giveaway.

The city is giving away 1,500 high efficiency shower heads in hopes that it will reduce water use in local households.

“A number of water utilities around Wisconsin offer rebates on shower heads, faucets or toilets to reduce water consumption. But Madison Water Utility customers don’t have to spend money or fill out a rebate,” WPR reported.

"This is a really unusual thing," Madison Water Utility Spokeswoman Amy Barrilleaux said, per WPR. "We’ve had our toilet rebate program, but we’ve never just straight up given away more than 1,000 shower heads before."

Frank Miller, superintendent of Cudahy Water Utility and chair of the Wisconsin section of the American Water Works Association, emphasized the significance of showers as a fraction of household water use.

"The generally accepted studies that are out there, the numbers that people use, showering is 17 percent of the water you use in your household," he said.

“He said depending on where you live, an average family of four uses about 400 gallons of water a day for various uses inside the home and outside. Miller said rebate or shower head giveaways are becoming more common in areas where water supply is an issue,” WPR reported.

Early results from the giveaway: “About 400 people showed up to get a free, high-efficiency showerhead. About 940 are left,” WKOW reported a few days after the program began.

Madison has an adequate supply of water, but utility officials are still trying to promote conservation.

"We don’t have an urgent issue," Barrilleaux said, per the report. "But at the same time, it’s really important for people to understand that our water supply isn’t infinite. We did have a situation in Madison — we use groundwater — where more water was coming out of the aquifer than was going back in. We’ve reversed that over the last 10 years."

The U.S. EPA certifies consumer products as water-efficient through its WaterSense program. The agency says the average family can save 2,900 gallons of water per year using WaterSense-approved showerheads.

“On a national scale, if every home in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, we could save more than $2.2 billion in water utility bills and more than 260 billion gallons of water annually. In addition, we could avoid about $2.6 billion in energy costs for heating water,” the agency said.

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