Average daily water use?

[Daox]

What is your average daily water use?

I'm on a well and haven't installed a meter yet. I am curious if others keep track of the water they use and how much we ecorenovators compare to the average joe family.

Please comment on how many adults/kids are in the house to give some more perspective.

According to drinktap.org:

Daily indoor per capita water use is 69.3 gallons. Here is how it breaks down:

Use
Gallons per Capita
Percentage of Total Daily Use

Showers
11.6 gal
16.8%

Clothes Washers
15.0 gal
21.7%

Dishwashers
1.0 gal
1.4%

Toilets
18.5 gal
26.7%

Baths
1.2 gal
1.7%

Leaks
9.5 gal
13.7%

Faucets
10.9 gal
15.7%

Other Domestic Uses
1.6 gal
2.2%

[eco dude]

I'm not on a well and I'll have to check my meter, but to be your "joe" I got some concerns re: those #'s.

My shower time is LE 1 min. so I don't know know how I could use 11 gals., whilst the mrs. takes a bath every day, fills the tub to ~16" and it's hot h2o as well, ugh!!! so how could baths here take 1.2 gals...hhhm? Also, where does 9.5 gals of "leaks" go to, I don't get it?

[Piwoslaw]

I started recording my our water meter regularly in late 2008 and during the first year we averaged about 280 liters (74 US gallons) per day, now our daily usage (averaged over the last year) is closer to 160 liters (42 US gal). Three adults, one big dog (drinks ~1 liter per day), and as of April one infant. Because of the latter our usage may go up a bit.

I've replaced one toilet with a newer model, but most of our savings came from reusing grey water and from using rain water (first one 220-liter barrel, then 3, now 5 since last month), which we use 7-8 months per year for garden watering, car washing and sometimes flushing .

[Daox]

Originally Posted by eco dude

I'm not on a well and I'll have to check my meter, but to be your "joe" I got some concerns re: those #'s.

My shower time is LE 1 min. so I don't know know how I could use 11 gals., whilst the mrs. takes a bath every day, fills the tub to ~16" and it's hot h2o as well, ugh!!! so how could baths here take 1.2 gals...hhhm? Also, where does 9.5 gals of "leaks" go to, I don't get it?

Its just an average of all the US (per whatever study was done). Some houses have leaky faucets, others don't. Some houses have people who like baths, I can't even remember the last time I took one... Its all just a average.

[MN Renovator]

I can't quantify all of my usage but I can tell you that I've managed to get two months on my water bill showing that I hadn't tripped the 1000 gallons mark. Usually I get two months in a row showing I've used 1000 gallons that month, then an off month where I didn't trip the electric meter clicker that tells the water utility I've used another thousand.

In the summer last year I've used 3000 gallons so apparently I've used over 2000 gallons pouring water on the ground to grow food. I think 3000 gallons is my highest bill and there are probably just a couple of bills in the past two years that hit 2000 gallons. I think I've done a calculation that I use about 600 gallons a month when I'm being careful and not pouring it on the ground.

[strider3700]

I track my water usage since moving in and have been reporting it in my energy use tracking thread.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...WdoNUViZjlLbnc

this is a link directly to the spreadsheet with the nice graphs.

Basically I averaged 103 gallons/day last year. it drops to 77 gallons/day when you remove the summer watering season.

<edit> I was getting depressed wondering how we're above average use until I noticed that was per capita. we're a family of 4 - 2 adults, a 4 year old(potty trained) and a 2 year old. so 25 gallons/day yearly 19gallons/day non watering season. </edit>

[MN Renovator]

"I was getting depressed wondering how we're above average use until I noticed that was per capita. we're a family of 4 - 2 adults, a 4 year old(potty trained) and a 2 year old. so 25 gallons/day yearly 19gallons/day non watering season. "

I agree, outside of watering the lawn, each person brings roughly one extra 'unit' of water usage so if you are looking at one person like me, an extra person is going to, on average, flush the toilet, use as much room in the dishwasher, wash an extra load of clothes, take another shower, etc. It's probably more proportionately close than any other utility on a per person basis since nat. gas is based mostly on the house for heating with a little extra for water heating and clothes dryer if those are gas appliances and electricity for air conditioning is pretty much the same if the temperature is set similar but everyone in the house will use lights if they are in different rooms, computers, an extra freezer if the extra room is required, etc.

Without knowing how many people, water comparisons are difficult to make.

[Exalta-STA]

Average daily consumption for the house is 0.5 square meters (132 gallons) of water..that is taken from the average monthly bill for 15 square meters of water consumption.

Most of the water goes into shower/laundry use.

That's for 5 persons..3 adults (me,wifey and maid) and 2 kids. So, that is .1 sq meter (26.4 gal) per person per day.

One of the things that help me save water is by using a bucket and water dipper in the restroom for flushing purposes...good exercise too compared to just pulling a lever or pressing a button to flush (disabled the flush button on the toilet and closed the gate valves to all toilets in the house).

[JRMichler]

We average 80 to 100 gallons per day for three people, plus my wife babysits up to three kids during the day.

When I was single (a long time ago), I averaged 27 gallons per day.

[Piwoslaw]

Daox, this thread should have a poll, something like: Your house's average daily water usage per person is:

• Below 10 gallons,
• 10-15 gallons,
• 15-20 gallons,
• etc.

This would allow anyone to see at a glance where (s)he stands.