It’s in our homes and yards

Water in the Home & Yard

We use water for cooking, cleaning, laundry, washing dishes, showering, brushing our teeth, and we even flush it. We also rely on water to keep our yards looking nice, whether we water flower beds or a lawn. Some of us even have a home garden, where we rely on water to grow fruits and vegetables. Water plays a vital role in our lives, and we use it regularly, so it is pretty hard to imagine our lives without it.

Why Save Water?

On average, each American uses 88 gallons of water per day at home. We can all use 20 percent less water by installing water efficient appliances in our homes. An alternative to watering your lawn or flower bed may be to install a rain barrel at home that collects rainwater. The rainwater can then be used to water flowers or lawns.

According to the EPA, the average family spends more than $1,000 per year in water costs, but can save more than $380 annually from retrofitting with WaterSense labeled fixtures and ENERGY STAR certified appliances.

According to a 2014 Government Accountability Report, 40 out of 50 state water managers expect water shortages under average conditions in some portion of their states over the next decade. If water use continues to increase over time as a result of an increasing population, this could mean even more shortages.

Water Stats:

• The average family can waste 180 gallons per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually, from household leaks. That’s equivalent to the amount of water needed to wash more than 300 loads of laundry.
• Household leaks can waste approximately nearly 900 billion gallons of water annually nationwide. That’s equal to the annual household water use of nearly 11 million homes.
• Running the dishwasher only when it’s full can eliminate one load of dishes per week and save the average family nearly 320 gallons of water annually.
• Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth can save 8 gallons of water per day and, while shaving, can save 10 gallons of water per shave. Assuming you brush your teeth twice daily and shave 5 times per week, you could save nearly 5,700 gallons per year.

Outdoor water use:

• Letting your faucet run for five minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water and uses enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 18 hours.
• Outdoor water use accounts for more than 30 percent of total household water use, on average, but can be as much as 60 percent of total household water use in arid regions.
• If the average sized lawn in the United States is watered for 20 minutes every day for 7 days, it’s like running the shower constantly for 4 days or taking more than 800 showers. That’s equivalent to the amount of water needed for the average family to take 1 year’s worth of showers.
• As much as 50 percent of the water we use outdoors is lost due to wind, evaporation, and runoff caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems. A household with an automatic landscape irrigation system that isn’t properly maintained and operated can waste up to 25,000 gallons of water annually.
• When hiring a professional to install or audit your landscape irrigation system, be sure he or she is certified by a WaterSense labeled irrigation program. If the system is well managed, a household’s irrigation water use can be reduced by 15 percent, or nearly 7,600 gallons of water, annually. That’s the amount of water needed to take 480 showers.

Water Consumption

Direct Water Use

Let’s take a look at how much water you use in a normal day. Use the following chart to figure out how many gallons of water you use to complete everyday tasks.

Action	Gallons of Water Used
Brushing your teeth  (with water running)	3 gallons per minute
Flushing the toilet	5 gallons
Taking a shower	5 gallons a minute (50 gallons for a 10 minute shower)
Washing Dishes under running water	30 gallons
Washing clothes	37 gallons per load

Make sure you turn the water off!  The water should not be running while you brush your teeth but only to wet the toothbrush before brushing and then rinsing after brushing.

Time those showers!  Just a few minutes makes a big difference for saving water!

How much water do you use? If you brush your teeth, take a 10 minute shower and use the restroom three times in a day you’ve used almost 70 gallons of water—and that’s without even helping with any chores! Are you surprised?

Indirect Water Use

Reducing the amount of water we use directly is an important step toward conserving water.

We also have to consider our indirect water use. When you are using paper to do your schoolwork, eating a hamburger for lunch, or reading this webpage on a computer, it may not seem like there is any water involved. But in order to make the paper, the hamburger, and the computer, the manufacturer had to use a LOT of water.

Take a look at just how much water is needed to make a few of the things we use every day:

Item	Gallons of Water Needed to Make this Item
1 sheet of paper	2.5 gallons
1 pound of steel (used to make things like cans)	31 gallons
1 pound of plastic (used to make  things like pop bottles)	70 gallons
1 gallon of gasoline	70 gallons
1 pair of jeans	1,800 gallons
1 pound of hamburger	2,464 gallons
1 desktop computer	7,300 gallons
1 car	65,000 gallons

Can you believe it?  We can’t control how much water is used to make these items, but we can make every effort to reduce our use of these products in order to conserve water.  See the tips below for decreasing indirect water usage:

• Recycle pop bottles, cans and paper
  • Recycling uses much less water than creating a product from scratch
• Reuse or repair items rather than buying new ones
• Donate reusable items that you no longer want
• Walk or ride your bike to school
  • For every gallon of gas saved, 70
    gallons of water is saved also!
• Buying locally made products
  • Local products don’t travel as
    far so they save gas as well