Calculating Water Usage

kittycatface

Hi I am atrocious at maths so was wondering if someone could give me a hand with working out how many litres of water we have used.

We had a water meter installed when we moved in (start of Sept 2011) there are 2 of us in the household and we have used 59 units according to the meter up to present.

How does this work out against the average of 150l per person per day? Are we lower than the 54,750 that a the average uk person uses?

This way I'll be able to keep an eye and crack the water saving whip with OH!

Thanks a lot in advance

HappyMJ

kittycatface wrote: »

Hi I am atrocious at maths so was wondering if someone could give me a hand with working out how many litres of water we have used.

We had a water meter installed when we moved in (start of Sept 2011) there are 2 of us in the household and we have used 59 units according to the meter up to present.

How does this work out against the average of 150l per person per day? Are we lower than the 54,750 that a the average uk person uses?

This way I'll be able to keep an eye and crack the water saving whip with OH!

Thanks a lot in advance

59 units is 59,000 litres divided by 14.5 months and multiplied by 12 then divided by 365 is 134 litres per day divided by the two of you is 67 litres per person per day.

Do you use any water outside the property? The average family uses water outside in the summer watering the garden. Washing the car all year round. etc etc... This is part of the average. Do you work and are out at work all day? If you use the toilet at work then you aren't using anything at home moving your usage from home to work reducing your measured consumption.

The average person might use 150 litres per day but my local water supplier has found those with a water meter are a bit more careful with water usage and those on a meter use an average of 130 litres per person per day.

Did you take any holidays away from home over the last year in which you would have used nothing at home?

Do you have a water saving flush toilet?

Do you have a electric shower or a power shower that uses a lot of water?

Do you have more showers than baths?

Do you have a dishwasher? Do you hand wash dishes once a day, 3 times a day after every meal or every few days?

Do you change your clothes every day or less often wearing them for more than one day?

All of these can reduce your usage quite significantly.

kittycatface

HappyMJ wrote: »

59 units is 59,000 litres divided by 14.5 months and multiplied by 12 then divided by 365 is 134 litres per day divided by the two of you is 67 litres per person per day.

Do you use any water outside the property? The average family uses water outside in the summer watering the garden. Washing the car all year round. etc etc... This is part of the average. Do you work and are out at work all day? If you use the toilet at work then you aren't using anything at home moving your usage from home to work reducing your measured consumption.

The average person might use 150 litres per day but my local water supplier has found those with a water meter are a bit more careful with water usage and those on a meter use an average of 130 litres per person per day.

Did you take any holidays away from home over the last year in which you would have used nothing at home?

Do you have a water saving flush toilet?

Do you have a electric shower or a power shower that uses a lot of water?

Do you have more showers than baths?

Do you have a dishwasher? Do you hand wash dishes once a day, 3 times a day after every meal or every few days?

Do you change your clothes every day or less often wearing them for more than one day?

All of these can reduce your usage quite significantly.

hi happy mj and thank you so much.
In answer to your questions we have no dishwasher, took 2wks away, have only showers but its elec (rented house) and hand wash dishes once a day. I do one clothes wash a week between the two of us and am trying to use the toilet more at work, we flush only for no.2s.

I think the areas where we could still improve are:
Steaming green veg instead of boiling
reusing grey water to flush toilet which has a hippo
being more disclipined about time in shower
I'm going to experiment this week by showering standing in one of those storage boxes and no doubt will be shocked by how much waters there at the end.
using one bowl of water for cleaning and one litre for mopping

59,000l sounds absolutely huge but I am glad we came in under average.

thanks again.

Cardew

kittycatface wrote: »

59,000l sounds absolutely huge but I am glad we came in under average.

Not just 'under average' but well under 50% of average consumption.

HappyMJ

kittycatface wrote: »

hi happy mj and thank you so much.
In answer to your questions we have no dishwasher, took 2wks away, have only showers but its elec (rented house) and hand wash dishes once a day. I do one clothes wash a week between the two of us and am trying to use the toilet more at work, we flush only for no.2s.

I think the areas where we could still improve are:
Steaming green veg instead of boiling
reusing grey water to flush toilet which has a hippo
being more disclipined about time in shower
I'm going to experiment this week by showering standing in one of those storage boxes and no doubt will be shocked by how much waters there at the end.
using one bowl of water for cleaning and one litre for mopping

59,000l sounds absolutely huge but I am glad we came in under average.

thanks again.

Water isn't really that expensive you know at about £2 per person per week maybe £3 if you live in the south east. It's a lot better using the recommended 5 litres of water in a mop bucket rather than just 1 litre. I couldn't imagine mopping the kitchen and bathroom with only 1 litre of water. I'll start on the kitchen find the 5 litres of water black from the dirt (and this is every week) then refresh it for the bathroom dumping the water on the garden rather than down the sink.

Shower time is another awkward one. If I have a power shower then I can get everything done in 3 minutes but that's 10 litres per minute..o the memories of hotel rooms with nice showers....but with the electric shower which just dribbles out at a pathetic 4 litres per minute in winter it takes me twice as long to get everything done and properly rinsed. Just don't stand around doing nothing and don't worry about the time. I tried the timer but I needed more time every time so my electric showers are 7-8 minutes.

Why only one clothes wash a week between two people. I live by myself and still do 3 loads a week...a load of light coloured shirts, hand, face and tea towels etc...a dark load (including heavy jeans, jumpers, underwear etc...) and then the sheets and bath towels. There is no way I could fit 7 days of clothes, sheets and towels into 1 load.