2025 City of Los Angeles Low Flow Showerhead Ordinance

Even though If you live in the city of Los Angeles the showerheads of all showers need to have low flow showerheads of 2.5 GPM – gallons per minute – or less of flow (when selling) in the city of LA, the state of California’s mandated rule is 1.8 GPM, or gallons per minute, of flow for the total number of fixtures in your shower. So the state rule over rides the city of Los Angeles mandate.

Non-compliant shower heads are not allowed to be sold in the state of California for 2025 in retail stores like Home Depot or Lowes.

Here is Burbank’s requirement for shower heads, again required to be 1.8 GPM – gallons per minute.

Below is an easy way to calculate if your showerhead is compliant or not.

How to measure this ? Fill up a one gallon container of shower water for 30 seconds, then double the measured amount to arrive at your ‘gallons per minute’ (GPM) calculation. You can use a container like the one below to estimate the capacity. So for example, if you fill the one gallon container to the brim in 30 seconds, your GPM is 2.0 GPM.

To replace a showerhead for selling purposes, a simple low flow showerhead from Amazon is all that is required by law for transfer purposes, such as the one below. This one runs less than $10.

All showerheads sold in California now are low flow and are 1.8 GBM or less. Existing non low flow showerheads can be replaced with newer showerheads, or a low flow restrictor can also be installed, here is an example of a water flow ‘reducer’ or restrictor. If you are in the city of Los Angeles. you can receive free 1.5 GPM showerheads from the LADWP for your home if you contact them directly. One of the free showerheads from the LADWP is show here.

Questions or comments? Use the comment section below to ask us a question about the requirements for low flow fixtures when selling in the city of Los Angeles.