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Water Use Statistics

Daily indoor per capita water use in the typical single family home is 69.3 gallons. Here is how it breaks down:

Use

Gallons per Capita

Percentage of Total Daily Use

Showers

11.6

16.8%

Clothes Washers

15.0

21.7%

Dishwashers

1.0

1.4%

Toilets

18.5

26.7%

Baths

1.2

1.7%

Leaks

9.5

13.7%

Faucets

10.9

15.7%

Other Domestic Uses

1.6

2.2%

By installing more efficient water fixtures and regularly checking for leaks, households can reduce daily per capita water use by about 35% to about 45.2 gallons per day Here's how it breaks down for households using conservation measures:

Use

Gallons per Capita

Percentage of Total Daily Use

Showers

8.8

19.5%

Clothes Washers

10.0

22.1%

Toilets

8.2

18.0%

Dishwashers

0.7

1.5%

Baths

1.2

2.7%

Leaks

4.0

8.8%

Faucets

10.8

23.9%

Other Domestic Uses

1.6

3.4%

Source: Handbook of Water Use and Conservation, Amy Vickers

 

 piechart.jpg
Residential End Uses of Water (Denver, Colo.: AWWARF, 1999).

If all U.S. households installed water-saving features, water use would decrease by 30 percent, saving an estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day. This would result in dollar-volume savings of $11.3 million per day or more than $4 billion per year.

  • Water-conserving fixtures installed in U.S. households in 1998 alone save 44 million gallons of water every day, resulting in total dollar-value savings of more than $33.6 million per year.
  • Average household water use annually: 127,400 gallons
  • Average daily household water use : 350 gallons
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02/09/2010
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