What's typical water use?
Published: Fri, Mar. 28, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Fri, Mar. 28, 2008 05:40AM
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeQ: I received my water bill yesterday, and it stated that I used an average of 183 gallons per day. What is the typical average? We are a family of four -- myself, my husband, a 3-year-old and a 4-month-old.
--Jill Rbaihat
Raleigh
HOW IT BREAKS DOWN
Percentageof total daily use / Gallons per capita
Showers11.6 /16.8%
Clothes washers15.0/ 21.7%
Dishwashers1.0 /1.4%
Toilets18.5 /26.7%
Baths1.2 /1.7%
Leaks9.5 /13.7%
Faucets10.9 /15.7%
Other domestic uses1.6 /2.2%
Related Content
More Drought
A: Ask around, and the answers vary. When Mayor Charles Meeker challenged Raleigh residents to use no more than 35 gallons a day earlier this year, city officials said the average Raleigh resident consumed about 75 gallons a day. Cary officials say that from 2001 through 2005, the average Cary household consumed 58 gallons of water per person daily, not including outdoor use.
So your average of 46 gallons per person daily appears low, though the estimates don't seem to distinguish between adults and children. A 4-month-old in diapers shouldn't use as much water as an adult -- unless perhaps you're washing cloth diapers.
Nationwide, the American Water Works Association estimates that the typical single-family home uses 69.3 gallons of water per person each day for indoor purposes.
Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.
The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
