How Much Drinking Water Do We
Use?
|
Water Use in Different Countries |
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|
Country |
Annual Water per Capita (Gallons) |
Percentage of Total Water Use by Category | |
|
Residential |
Industry/Agriculture* |
||
|
United States |
525,000 |
10 |
90 |
|
Canada |
310,000 |
13 |
87 |
|
Belgium |
221,000 |
6 |
94 |
|
India |
132,000 |
3 |
97 |
|
China |
122,000 |
6 |
94 |
|
Poland |
112,000 |
14 |
86 |
|
Nicaragua |
72,000 |
18 |
82 |
|
Malta |
16,000 |
100 |
0 |
| * includes water used for electrical power and for cooling. | |||
|
Source: Van Der Leeden, F., F.L. Troise. And D.K. Todd. The Water Encyclopedia Lewis Publishers, Inc. Second Edition, 1990 |
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The amount of water we use in our homes varies during the day:
Lowest rate of use - 11:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
Sharp rise/high use - 5:00 a.m. to noon. (Peak hourly use from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.)
Moderate use - noon to 5:00 p.m. (Lull around 3:00 p.m.)
Increasing evening use - 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. (Second minor peak, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.)
On average, our society uses almost 100 gallons of drinking water per person per day. Traditionally, water use rates are described in units of gallons per capita per day (gpcpd), gallons used by one person in one day. Of the "drinking water" supplied by public water systems, only a small portion is actually used for drinking. As residential water consumers, we use most water for other purposes, such as toilet flushing, bathing, cooking, cleaning, and lawn watering.