Measuring your water use

Find the amount of water you use in your home

The purpose of measuring your household water use is to help keep an eye on your daily habits to identify wasteful practices. The question is . . . how do I actually measure my use.

Estimating water use without a meter - If you do not have a water meter you can estimate your water use by measuring water flow from each fixture in your house. Multiply this information by the number of times per day you use each item and/or the amount of time you use each item. Add the numbers up and you will get a general idea of your water use. Don’t forget to estimate outdoor faucets as well.

 

Measuring water flow test

This is by far the easiest way to estimate the amount of water you use while taking a shower, washing dishes or doing any other task (inside the house and out) that requires water to flow for a period of time.

  1. Turn the faucet on as you normally would for the task

  2. Hold a bucket or other container under the tap for 10 seconds (1000 1, 1000 2, 1000 3 ...)

  3. Next, measure the quantity of water in the bucket

  4. Multiply the measured quantity of water by 6 to calculate the gallons per minutes (60 seconds)

  5. Finally, multiply this number by the amount of time you spend in the shower

Example: 10 sec. x ¼ of a gallon x 6 = 1 1/2 gallons

1 1/2 gallons x 5 (min. shower) = 7 1/2 gallons used

 

Measuring toilet flow

  1. Turn off the water supply to the toilet

  2. Remove the toilet lid and mark the water line on the inside of the tank

  3. Flush the toilet to drain the tank (question: lift ball valve??)

  4. Then use the sink faucet to fill the tank again to the line you marked earlier noting the amount of water you are using

  5. Record the amount of water you used to refill the tank

  6. Turn water on to the toilet back on

Water used in dishwasher and dishing machine

These are difficult appliances to estimate. The easiest way is to look in the manual. You can use the manual you received with the appliance or you can look up the model number on the Internet. The manual will usually tell you exactly how much water is used per load.

The washing machine can also be measured by using the flow rate test noted above.