The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the Sunnyside Towers apartment complex to its manager One month ago all the showerheads in the first three buildings of the Sunnyside Towers complex were modified to restrict maximum water flow to one t

The owner of the Sunnyside towers apartment complex predicts that their profits will increase by modifying the showerheads of all the twelve towers in the complex. However, the assumptions and the predictions of the owner raises a lot of questions that need to be answered before the argument seems plausible.

The first question thet needs to be addressed is that, what is the basis of his assumption that the water use in the complex will be reduced just by modifying the showerheads? It is not necessary that maximum water is used by people under the shower. It is also not necessary that people take bath under a shower. It can happen that people might use buckets and tumblers while using water and the showers are lying idle. Also, the prediction that water bills will reduce and profits will rise before the results of water usage is availabe is questionable.

Another question that can be raised is: what is the contribution of water bills in the overall expenses of the complex? If the water bills contribute to just a fraction of the overall expenses of the complex, then this assumption fails to gain any favor. This is because if efforts are made to reduce costs in that part of the budget which already contribute minimally in the expenses, it is highly unlikely that the profits will rise dramatically. Thus, the owner may want to try and find other amenities that are likely to rise their profits if used economically.

Also, it can be asked whether any polls were being conducted before taking the decision of modifying the showerheads? These polls would have asked the residents about their water usage such as whether they use showers too much or whether their use of water is for other purposes where showers are not used such as cooking, gardening etc. If this step was taken, it could've given a better idea to the management about the steps to be taken to save water rather than just doing trials like these showerheads modification.

Thus, the argument put forward by the owner of Sunnyside Towers apartment complex about modifying showerheads stands a lot of scrutiny and answering. If those questions discussed above are not answered, the assumptions and predictions of the owner are absolutely implausible.