Trump takes aim at low-flow toilets in latest round of orders

Travis Gettys
February 11, 2025 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks, after signing an executive order, while Howard Lutnick stands in the background, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 10, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Donald Trump is rolling back another environmental regulation by his predecessor after signing an executive order ending efforts to phase out single-use plastic straws.

The president signed an executive order shortly after taking office last month pledging to relax efficiency standards for household appliances and fixtures, and he announced Tuesday morning on Truth Social that he was instructing his new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator to enforce those rules.

"I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders," Trump posted, "which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these Orders. THANK YOU!!!"

Low-flow toilets and other household appliances have been a frequent Trump target for ire at his rallies and during meetings, where he complains that consumers are forced to flush “10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once” and experience difficulty washing their hands in water-efficient sinks.

“We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on – and in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it, and you don’t get any water,” Trump told business leaders at a meeting in 2019, during his first term.