Higher water pressure results in reduced usage?

[Davidhoy]

I have been living aboard, in a marina, for the last two years. The boat has been connected to the dock water through an inlet on the transom. Now, getting ready to move off the dock, I switched to using the internal water tanks and pressure pump/accumulator. The water pressure at the various outlets is noticeably higher, but not too high. One thing I've noticed is, especially when showering, that I'm using LESS water, despite the pressure being higher. It seems I can get wet, shut off the water, soap up, then rinse off, using noticeably less water, judging by how fast the shower pan drains.

It seems counter-intuitive for higher pressure to result in reduced usage.

-David

[rslifkin]

For something like removing soap from your body or shampoo from your hair, it makes sense. More pressure will do a better job of pulling the soap away from your skin, meaning you don't need as much volume of water to get it off. However, higher pressure means higher flow rate from a given faucet, so if you're not careful about usage, you can easily end up using more.