Household water use

[The One]

I found a site that calculates water use in your household. Since we live in an apartment, it didn't take into account all the water this place dumps on the landscape outside. But on the other hand all the green stuff outside should at least lower our carbon footprint a bit. Anyway, here are my results for a family of four in a 3 bedroom apartment in South Central California. What are yours?

http://www.sdcwa.org/water-calculator

Estimated Household Volume (gal./year)
Category My House Average House Water-Wise House
Faucet 10,433 12,539 7,481
Toilet 11,418 21,175 6,665
Shower 16,460 14,449 14,146
Bathtub 4,347 1,495 2,947
Dishwasher 2,318 1,246 771
Clothes was11,581 18,351 4,897
Leaks 6,491 10,297 7,935
Other 1,391 3,488 544
Total indoor 64,439 83,038 45,340
Indoor hot 19,203 24,745 13,511
Outdoor 0 0 0
Total 64,439 83,038 45,340
Carbon ftprnt 2,395 3,087 1,685

[mike gurnee]

93% of our water usage is for ag and industrial. I do try to conserve, but why bother?

[JNA]

My fair city's water comes from and goes into the Ohio River.

My numbers -

Total 32,562 31,905 21,747
Carbon footprint 3,523 3,452 2,353

[Brocktoon]

I installed a two flush device in out downstairs bathroom. I had to rebuild it and this was only $10 more was the reason why and not the desire to save water.I take very long showers and have grass in both my front and back yard.

[The One]

93% of our water usage is for ag and industrial. I do try to conserve, but why bother?

You nailed it! I debated whether or not to put a shot in on agriculture, but decided not to. Agricultural use is normally near 80% of all water use nationwide. When you grow cotton in the hottest part of Arizona, then try to make me take a one minute shower, you will get a sharp response from me.

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't care that much about water conservation truthfully. I live in Detroit. One thing we do have is an endless supply of water. I suppose if I lived in a part of the country without good water supplies it would be a bigger issue. I don't get a water bill directly as it goes to my condo association. Therefore I don't worry so much. A past experience however made me understand why this is is important. I used to get billed quarterly ($30 a quarter) for water. One quarter I had a toilet that ran. I ignored it and that quarter my bill was about $300! All I needed was a couple of hours and a $8 part to fix it.

[Maister]

93% of our water usage is for ag and industrial. I do try to conserve, but why bother?

You know, this is the thing. Only 7% of water usage is residential and yet that's who polticians choose to point fingers at and impose restrictions on. People washing their cars in the driveway with a garden hose are responsible for water shortages in much the same way that the guy that owns 20 shares of Microsoft stock is responsible for the direction that corporation takes.

People living around the Great Lakes have long enjoyed this bountiful resource but had best be prepared in coming years to fend off increasingly persistent attempts from other states to attempt to tap into them when their fresh water supplies get low.

[dvdneal]

This thing is trying to make me feel bad about being a home owner and family man. I'm sorry if my family likes to take showers every couple days, they're not long one, I promise. According to this thing I use 426 gallons a day or something like that. I do love the 28 gallons for possible leaks. My house doesn't leak damn it! I fixed those problems. This is just some Obama socialist plot to make us all live in apartments.

Okay that's enough troll fun for me.

[Mud Princess]

I heard that this was one of the wettest Junes on record, so I'm not terribly concerned about water usage at the moment. We're on well water, anyway.

I think we have a low-flow toilet in one of our bathrooms, but I can't take credit for it since it was here when we moved in.

[wahday]

Well, I live in a desert, so I am very mindful of our water use. In my fair state, 75 percent of water use goes to ag production, but within the metro area, I am sure residential use is higher. This matters in terms of what impact household users have on overall water use because our water comes from a combination of surface water from the Rio Grande and our local aquifer. So, what we use in our homes has a larger impact on overall use than those of you in more agricultural settings (if the aquifer drops too low, we're sunk)

Things are so dry now they are letting the river drop to about half its normal summer flow and the City (as the system is designed to do) will be switching to 100 percent aquifer water for a few months until the flow increases. This is how our system is designed to work, but going to 100 percent aquifer water this early in the year indicates an extreme situation.

We are in the midst of an “exceptional” drought which is the worst classification available. The central valley area is at 24% of normal precipitation levels based on the last 100 years or so of data. Even the wettest part of the state is only at 57% of normal.

A small town south of here called Magdalena actually had to take its municipality off line because the aquifers had dropped so low. No water in the town. At all. They had to truck in water for the hospital and restaurants were doing the same thing. The levels came up enough to bring things back online, but they are starting to stockpile water and raise money for anticipated relief efforts later this summer.

In short, water availability is pretty scary in my neck of the woods and I expect some of these towns may be abandoned in the next 5 years or so. You certainly can’t live without water.

[ColoGI]

93% of our water usage is for ag and industrial. I do try to conserve, but why bother?

So you don't really care how much your water bill costs. Can you lend me some money, since you have so much to burn?

[mike gurnee]

So you don't really care how much your water bill costs. Can you lend me some money, since you have so much to burn?

"I do try to conserve." Ultra low-flow toilets. Never let water run when rinsing dishes/shaving/brushing the remaining teeth. Letting Bermuda and Buffalo replace fescue in the yard. Only water lawn when nearly dead. I do wash the cars in the drive...3 or 4 times a year. And I do get ticked seeing center pivots irrigate corn in this severe drought area, sucking the aquifer dry. Money to burn? I'm retired and on a fixed income.

[Cardinal]

Have you ever looked at utility reports filed with the state to see how much water leaks from municipal water mains? In some communities it can be over half of the total water drawn by the utility. These tend to be small towns more than big cities. Both may have a significant part of their infrastructure dating back many decades, but larger cities tend to do more replacement.

[Suburb Repairman]

The Austin area is still in the throws of a multiyear severe drought. Area reservoirs are below 50% of their normal levels, and have been for a couple of years now. At the same time, the aquifer has pumping restrictions related to maintaining quality of water supply and protection of endangered species. As a result, we've been in significant drought water use restrictions for some time now, with no end in sight. Our city does not have an industrial/commercial base that uses a ton of water--our problem really is outdoor water use (although our biggest watering restriction violators are commercial retailers).

At my home, I do precious little outdoor supplemental watering--restricted to just some soaker hoses in the beds. I added a lot of additional top soil & soil supplements that help retain moisture before installing my landscaping so they could have stronger, deeper roots. That seems to have been the critical different for me versus other yards. That, and my landscape is entirely native/adapted drought-resistent plants.