Keep Track of your Water Use

Below is a "water log" to fill out.  You and your family might have fun keeping tabs on the water you use during a normal day at home.  Ask everyone to make check marks next to activities they do throughout the day.  At day's end, add up the check marks and write each total in the square.  One has been done for you as an example.

The water log also tells how much water flows in and out of an ordinary household in a day.  People in the United States use an average of 123 gallons of water per person each day.  How do you compare to the national average?

List some ways you and your family can use less water.  Will they take money, effort, or both?  Place a dollar sign($) next to things you think might cost money.

_3___  wash dishes by hand                                     3 x  20 gallons = 60 gallons per day
 

____ wash dishes by hand	_____ x 20 gallons
____ shower	_____ x 5 gallons a minute
____ one clothes - washing cycle	_____ x 50 gallons
____ water lawn 10 minutes	_____ x 75 gallons
____ wash car with hose running	_____ x 180 gallons
____one dishwasher cycle	_____ x 12 to 15 gallons
____ bath	_____ x 30 gallons
____ one toilet flush	_____ x 5 to 7 gallons
____ wash hands with water running	_____ x 3 gallons
____ brush teeth two minutes with          water running	_____ x 6 gallons
____ leaking or running toilet	_____ x 50 gallons
____ drink	_____ x 2 to 3 gallons a day

By the way, the aberage cost of water for each home is about a penny for every five gallons.