How Much Water Do You Use?

In a small portion of West Virginia, we have been struggling with a Do Not Use order on our city water since January 9, 2014. Now that it is being lifted I wondered how much water we averaged using at my house, during this time. It is amazing.

The EPA states:

The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home.

I ran some numbers on what we were doing at our house. We have two adults, four cats, and one 6-yr old Boxer. Two of the days I had my grand niece and nephew here all day, and one day they and their mom were here for several hours.

Toilets – 10-20 gallons per day at 2 gallons per flush.
Drinking – 1 gallon per day (Soft drinks and juices were also consumed)
Cooking – 1 gallon per day
Dishes – 4 gallons per day
Hygiene – 2.5 gallons per day. (1 for washing, 1 for rinsing, 1/2 for brushing [Full body wash every other day])

We were getting by, pretty well, on about 29 gallons, well under the estimated use. During this period, I only did laundry twice. Laundry adds almost 40 gallons on the days I washed. I kept two gallons in each side of my double bowled sink, one sudsy water to wash dishes, 2 gallons of clear, bleach water to rinse. I saved the dirtiest pots and pans for last at the end of the day.

Bottled water was sent in by FEMA, and hundreds of wonderful volunteers and groups in the area. We were able to buy a couple cases at the store. My husband brought home 5 gallons of drinking water from his workplace. The biggest challenge for me has been laundry and cleaning water. You just can’t open enough 20 ounce bottles of water to do a small load of laundry. Water distribution locations are for drinking water, not cleaning water.

Last spring I built a rainwater collection system from two pickle barrels, a length of hose, and a couple spigots. It has been a major blessing! I boiled and strained water for drinking, cooking, and dishes, used some for personal hygiene, and most of it for laundry. The good Lord sent rain enough to help refill them.

Hauling in the water 4 gallons at a time for the washer was not fun. My family has clean clothes thanks to it.

By Robin Holstein