Within his first 100 days in office, United States President Donald Trump has been busy. He's signed an executive order to dismantle the country's education department, started a global trade war with sweeping tariffs, and now, he has his sights set on showerheads.
Dubbed the "war on showers", Trump has signed an executive order to change the definition of showerheads and reverse a federal regulation on water pressure, a move the White House said would end the "Obama-Biden war on showers".
"In my case, I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair," Trump said as he signed the executive order. "I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous."
"You don't get water. It's ridiculous," he said. "We're going to open it up so that people can live."
Promises to 'make America's showers great again'
According to the White House fact sheet, Trump will "end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and make America's showers great again".
"Overregulation chokes the American economy, entrenches bureaucrats, and stifles personal freedom," the fact sheet said.
It also critiqued the Biden Administration's "13,000 word" definition of the word 'showerhead', saying Trump was "restoring sanity to at least one small part of the federal regulations, returning to the straightforward meaning of 'showerhead'".
"The Order frees Americans from excessive regulations that turned a basic household item into a bureaucratic nightmare. No longer will showerheads be weak and worthless," the fact sheet said.
"By restoring shower freedom, President Trump is following through on his commitment to dismantle unnecessary regulations and put Americans first."
The new executive order aims at reversing efficiency and water conservation steps taken by the last two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
It will lift water restrictions on appliances that use water, such as toilets and dishwashers.
"We’re going to get rid of those restrictions," Trump said of the new order.
"You have many places where they have water, they have so much water they don’t know what to do with it. But people buy a house, they turn on the sink, and water barely comes out. They take a shower, water barely comes out. And it’s an unnecessary restriction."
Not the first time Trump has taken aim at toilets
It's been an ongoing topic of concern for the US president, who has complained for years about poor water pressure in American showers, sinks, dishwashers and even toilets.
In 2019, he claimed that "people are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once" as a result of low water pressure. "You turn on the faucet and you don't get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out … very quietly dripping out."
"Sinks, toilets and showers — you don't get any water. They put restrictors on and now they made them permanent," he said.
"You go into the shower — and I have this beautiful head of hair, I need a lot of water — and you go into the shower, you turn on the water, and drip, drip, drip."
"It's a very unpleasant experience."
The new executive order will direct the US energy department to rescind a rule begun by Obama and brought back by Biden that limited the flow from each showerhead on the market to 9.5 litres of water per minute.
