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| Use a low-flow showerhead for water-efficiency. Photo Credit: Go Green Zine |
Water Facts: Toilets, Taps, Showers, Laundry, and Dishes
- On average, 10 gallons per day of your water footprint (or 14% of your indoor use) is lost to leaks.
- If you use a low-flow showerhead, you can save 15 gallons of water during a 10-minute shower.
- It takes about 70 gallons of water to fill a bathtub, so showers are generally the more water-efficient way to bathe.
- Most front-loading clothes washing machines are energy- and water-efficient, using just over 20 gallons a load, while most top-loading machines, unless they are energy-efficient, use 40 gallons per load.
- Dishwashing is a relatively small part of your water footprint—less than 2% of indoor use—but there are always ways to conserve. Using a machine is actually more water efficient than hand washing, especially if you run full loads.
Yards and Pools
- Nearly 60% of a person's household water footprint can go toward lawn and garden maintenance.
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| Pool covers prevent loss of water due to evaporation. Photo Credit: Backyard City Pools |
- Climate counts—where you live plays a role in how much water you use, especially when it comes to tending to a yard.
- The average pool takes 22,000 gallons of water to fill, and if you don't cover it, hundreds of gallons of water per month can be lost due to evaporation.
Diet
- The water it takes to produce the average American diet alone—approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day—is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household use, transportation, energy, and the consumption of material goods.
- One of the easiest ways to slim your water footprint is to eat less meat and dairy. Another way is to choose grass-fed, rather than grain-fed, since it can take a lot of water to grow corn and other feed crops.
- A serving of poultry costs about 90 gallons of water to produce. There are also water costs embedded in the transportation of food (gasoline costs water to make). So, consider how far your food has to travel, and buy local to cut your water footprint.
- A cup of coffee takes 55 gallons of water to make, with most of that H2O used to grow the coffee beans.
Additional Resources:
West
Midwest
Northeast
Southeast
North Carolina Water Fact Sheet
Southwest
Sources:
National Geographic (n.d.) Water Conservation Tips. Retrieved June 22, 2011.