Water Questions & Answers

Water at Home

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Water Questions & Answers
How much water does the average person use at home per day?

Estimates vary, but each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day. Are you surprised that the largest use of household water is to flush the toilet, and after that, to take showers and baths? That is why, in these days of water conservation, we are starting to see toilets and showers that use less water than before.

Many local governments now have laws that specify that water faucets, toilets, and showers only allow a certain amount of water flow per minute. Water agencies in some areas, such as here in Atlanta, Georgia, offer rebates if you install a water-efficient toilet. In fact, I just put in two new toilets and received a rebate of $100 for each. Yes, they really do use a lot less water. For your kitchen and bathroom faucets, if you look real close at the head of a faucet, you might see something like "1.0 gpm", which means that the faucet head will allow water to flow at a maximum of 1.0 gallons per minute.

Typical water use at home
Bath	A full tub is about 36 gallons.
Shower	2 gallons per minute. Old shower heads use as much as 5 gallons per minute.
Teeth brushing	<1 gallon, especially if water is turned off while brushing. Newer bath faucets use about 1 gallon per minute, whereas older models use over 2 gallons.
Hands/face washing	1 gallon
Face/leg shaving	1 gallon
Dishwasher	4 to 10 gallons/load, depending of efficiency of dishwasher
Dishwashing by hand:	20 gallons. Newer kitchen faucets use about 2.2 gallons per minutes, whereas older faucets use more.
Clothes washer	25 gallons/load for newer washers. Older models use about 40 gallons per load.
Toilet flush	3 gallons. Most all new toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush, but many older toilets used about 4 gallons.
Glasses of water drunk	8 oz. per glass (did you remember to drink your 8 glasses of water today?)
Outdoor watering	5 to 10 gallons per minute