In one of the recent threads about Atlanta’s water problems, someone linked to this story. In the last paragraph of that story, it mentions that the house in question is now down to 2000 gallons of water a day, enough for 9 homes. Some quick division later, I see that is over 200 gallons per day for a home, as an average.
Today I received the city utility bill. For the water portion, I had to pay for 865 gallons. Funny thing is, the city bills every two months, so that 865 was split over September and October. So, my family of three averages about 15 gallons of water per day (our water usage is fairly consistent, always under 900 gallons per month).
Now, my house is quite old. It’s four bedrooms, with two baths, a hot water heater, a kitchen sink, a dishwasher, a washing machine (standard top loader, not a high efficiency model), and an R/O water filter under the sink. We would probably use less water without the filter, as it uses a good amount of water to clean off the membrane filter. Still, I think the house itself shouldn’t be too far out of average.
So, why such a large difference? I do not water a lawn, but can that account for such a 13-fold increase for average daily use? And since new construction often includes things like low-flow toilets and restricted flow showers and such (we have old-school toilets), this just adds to my confusion. Am I really so out of the norm, or am I missing something (or was that story incorrect)? Where would I find information such as average water use for a house of size x?
Well damn. I just had to go down to read the meter for the bill, and the meter does measure cubic feet. I stand corrected, and a mod can feel free to shut this sucker down.
Although you have an answer to the question you didn’t ask, do you still want an answer to the one you did?
In the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, it is assumed that an average residence (single family house, townhouse, duplex unit) will generate 274 gallons per day and design is done to accommodate that amount. There is a big list of equivalency factors for other types of places including offices, apartment buildings, schools, etc.
Other charts I have list typical average use rates of 75 gallons per person per day. The design value varies from region to region.