Due to a current water shortage in the U.K., Yorkshire Water is encouraging customers to use less. Specifically, by cutting showers down to 4 minutes. The water supply and treatment utility suggested singing Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” to help time yourself.
But if Bon Jovi isn’t your thing, Yorkshire Water has you covered with a Spotify playlist of 65, roughly, 4-minute songs to time yourself to. The artists range from:
- David Bowie “Golden Years” 4:03
- Rihanna and Mikky Ekko “Stay” exactly 4-minutes
- Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much” 3:58
- Wheatus “Teenage Dirtbag” 4:01
- The Kinks “Lola” 4:01
- Spice Girls “Who Do You Think You Are” exactly 4-minutes
- Johnny Cash “One Piece At A Time” exactly 4-minutes
So there is a little bit of something for everyone to jam out in the shower too.
The water shortage they are trying to combat is due to a lack of rainfall coupled with an extreme ‘danger to life’ heatwave. This in turn has led to a serious drought that is causing some reservoirs to reach their lowest levels in decades. There are currently photographs circulating showing how low the reservoirs have gotten. One of these images shows the dried-out bottom of the Scammonden Water, a reservoir that supplies Huddersfield in West Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Water is now saying the amount of water stored is at the same level it was back in 1995. During this time, supplies had to be brought in by tankers. Some regions even came with 10 days of completely running out of water. Though the current head of water, Neil Dewis, told the BBC (via The Mirror) this situation is “very different” from 27 years ago. Since the company has now invested in several upgrades including fixing leaking pipes.
While a 4-minute shower may not change the world, it can make a dent.
