What is the average water usage?

**YankeeMom** · 04-19-2006, 01:27 PM

For a family, say 4 people?

I'm trying to keep track of our water usage, but it's strange because our dept of public works measures the water in cubic feet

Last quarter we only used 20 cubic feet of water? That's only 148.62 gallons for three months? 50 gallons per month for 6 people to bathe, drink, wash clothes & dishes?

**Valerie in WA** · 04-19-2006, 02:11 PM

Our company bills in some odd units; I forget what they're called, but a unit is equivelent to 750 gallons. Our winter bill (for two months) is usually 9 units and the summer bill 11 units. Nine units times 750 gallons divided by two months equals 3375 gallons per month ... divided by 30 days equals 112 gallons a day. About 10 gallons for the ducks, 25 for two adult showers, plus the dishwasher once a day, the (front-loading) washing machine once a day, the toilet (1.5 gallons per flush times I-don't-know-how-many-but-lots)...hmmm that's about 75 gallons a day right there. Plus regular washing at sinks, etc. And the kids bath a couple of times a week. Sounds about right to me. Yours sounds weird. Are you sure you converted cu ft to gallons correctly (not that I know how)?

**banana** · 04-19-2006, 02:34 PM

We are a family of 3 and I am trying everything to get it down! Last bill we used 15,000 gallons for 3 months, yikes! Which is 5,000 a month!

**YankeeMom** · 04-19-2006, 03:23 PM

Well, when we paid the bill the lady took the wrong part (our part) and all I have now is the total, so I'm going from memory...I'm positive it said 20 for the total usage...and I know it said cubic feet (because I thought that was strange. But maybe it's 20 units? and there's a certain # of units per cubic feet? I really don't want to wait another 3 months to see the bill, I guess I'll have to go up there and get another copy.

Le sigh

Oh, and the conversion of cubic feet to gallons: 1 cubic foot = 7.48051945 US gallons
So I took 20 times 7.48 and got 148.62

**peanut** · 04-19-2006, 09:48 PM

We have our water measured in cubic meters.

One cubic meter = 35.3 cubic feet = 264 US gallons

We are a family of 3 adults and have used 2 cu. m. in the last week. That's 75 gall/day (2250/mth). I have no idea if that's 'average' or not.

Jean

**banana** · 04-20-2006, 08:25 AM

wow Jean! I would love to cut my usage down to 75 gallons a day!

**YankeeMom** · 04-20-2006, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by peanut

We have our water measured in cubic meters.

One cubic meter = 35.3 cubic feet = 264 US gallons

We are a family of 3 adults and have used 2 cu. m. in the last week. That's 75 gall/day (2250/mth). I have no idea if that's 'average' or not.

Jean

Okay, maybe that's what it said...cubic meters!
That makes much more sense.
20 cubic meters = 706 cubic feet = 5280.88 gallons
That's for three months, so 1760.29 gallons per month or 58.68 gallons per day for a family of six.

**banana** · 04-20-2006, 09:20 AM

YankeeMom - That is awesome! Can you please share your tips! I could use all the help I could get!

**YankeeMom** · 04-20-2006, 09:28 AM

I don't have any tips lol. I don't know what we're doing. We have four who bathe every day, the boys bathe every other day unless they get dirty. Coming warmer months though means more sweating, more playing outside & more baths.

We don't wash our vehicles much. Probably 3-4 times a year we wash them by hand, otherwise we do the drive through wash.

Our lawn does not need watering.

Our toilets are old, but we replaced the tank guts so they use less water.

Our dishwasher is older, but it has a water miser setting and I only run it once a day if that and only a full load.

Laundry I think is the biggest usage. I do 7-13 loads of laundry per week

But I only run full loads.

**peanut** · 04-20-2006, 11:46 AM

Questions...what kind of washing machine do you have? And do the kids share the bath water? Or do they all get separate baths with separate fillings of the tub?

The shower, the washing machine and the toilet are the biggest water hogs in a house. They easily account for 75% of water usage in the average home. You seem to be using more water in those areas than we are. So I'm not sure that you can be using less water overall...unless...you have a front loading energy efficient washing machine, share bath water and/or adopt the "if it's yellow, let it mellow..." philosophy of toilet use.

We aren't watering our lawn either at this time of year. And we too handwash the car a few times during the summer. We have a low flow toilet and bricks to displace water in the older toilet. We use a low flow shower head upstairs, but not down. I sponge bath every other 'shower' day. We do NOT have a water or energy efficient washing machine. We don't use a dishwasher. We save dish rinse water in a bucket to dump on the flower beds.

Jean

**YankeeMom** · 04-20-2006, 08:04 PM

The boys share a bath, the girls are too old.
Toilets get flushed *every* time.

Our washer is only a year old and is a top loader, Whirlpool Super Capacity (3.2 cubic feet I think). Both of our showers have low-flow showerheads.

**peanut** · 04-21-2006, 03:20 PM

Hmm...maybe the newer washer is more low water use than the older ones. Ours is 22 years old. Thanks! It gives me an idea of what to do to reduce our water bill even more.

Jean

**Lorri** · 04-30-2006, 04:52 PM

We have a well where we live so no water bill but it does increase the cost of our electricity and our propane. I feel fortunate when I have been reading here what water costs. You guys are doing great though. GOOD JOB!