WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration was looking into relaxing water-saving regulations for toilets, sinks and showers, saying consumers end up using even more water by flushing multiple times and trying to get clean with weaker water streams.
``People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once. They end up using more water,'' Trump said while talking with business owners about what he said were `'common sense'' steps to end overregulation. ``'The EPA is looking at that very strongly at my suggestion.''
Use of low-flush toilets started in the 1990s after President George H.W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act. The 1992 law said new toilets could use no more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush. The law went into effect in 1994 for residential buildings and 1997 for commercial structures.
Trump said he was also looking at possibly relaxing regulations for sinks and showers.
``You go into a new building, a new house or a new home, and they have standards and you don't get water,'' he said. ``You can't wash your hands, practically — there's so little water that comes out of the faucet. And the end result is you leave the faucet on and it takes you so much longer to wash your hands and you end up using the same amount of water.''
Trump said relaxing water-conservation standards might not be practical in some arid regions of the nation, but in many states, there is plenty of water.
"It comes down. It's called rain,'' he said.