How to estimate water consumption

<< How would I be able to find out how much water my household uses per day? >>

My first inclination was to answer with the three "standard" methods. Here's what I said in my first answer:

There are three ways that I know of to find out how much water your household uses in a day.

• Method 1 for average days: Call your Water Company. They can ask their computer what your average usage is per day at various times of year. They probably keep their records for twelve months, so be sure to compare summer usage to winter usage.
• Method 2 for average days: Look at your water bills. You need to find two numbers:
  • Look for the amount that shows what your total usage for the month was. (You will also see two meter readings that are used to get this number. If you wish, you can subtract the "start of month meter reading" from the "end of month meter reading" and you should get the same number.)
  • The second number you need is the number of days covered by this bill. It will usually be between 28 and 35 days. (Do not use the number of days in that calendar month, because meter readers to not always read meters on the same day of the month.)
  • Divide the total amount of usage for the month by the number of days in the billing cycle. You will find out the average amount of water that your household used during that month.
  • Be sure you do this for different months in the year. You will be amazed at how water usage changes during the year. What reasons are there for some months to be heavier usage months than others? You'll have fun figuring it out.
• Method 3 for a specific 24-hour day:
  • You will see a series of numbers on your water meter. Together, these digits or dials tell you the total amount of water that have ever passed through that water meter.
  • Write down all the digits that you see on your meter.
  • Tomorrow, at the same exact time, write down all the numbers again.
  • Subtract the first reading from the second reading to get your value for this particular 24 hour period.
  • How to read your own meter: If a digit or a dial is between two digits, write down the lower of the numbers that it is between (if it is between 9 and 0, write down the 9). If the right most digit (the position with the lowest place value) is between numbers, feel free to use a fraction, so that you get a more accurate reading. If you have trouble reading your meter, call your water company for instructions. They probably have a post card that gives directions.
  • It might be interesting to do this every day for several weeks, and notice how some days are always higher than others. Figure out what happens on those days to increase your usage.
  • Perhaps you do laundry three days a week? Do people skips days running the dishwasher? What else can change water consumption from day to day?

The student wrote back:

<< Dear Mr.Maze ... We live on a well is there any other way? >>

I wrote back:

You could put a notebook next to every faucet or device that uses water and ask the members of your family to write down each time they use that outlet. Put down a hashmark:

• every time the toilet is flushed.
• each time someone washes his hands.
• every time dishes are washed.
• etc.

Once you know how many times the various devices are used, you can call your local water company and ask what the typical amount of water that is used for each type of device and operation that you wrote down. They tend to have records of such things.

You can also ask them what the typical average amount of water use is for a family of your size. Their books show typical numbers for typical families. Of course, none of us are typical. Good Luck with your research.

After the student wrote back to say << Thank you for your help >>, I replied:

You're welcome and good luck estimating your water consumption.

Another thing just occurred to me. If you really need accurate numbers, you could buy some kind of meter to put in the water line between the pump and where the water line splits to go several directions, but that is an expensive alternative. I hope the pads of paper, or "water company" estimates are good enough.

John

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