What Is Your Water Consumption Footprint?

[frigilux]

Some statistics from this were cited by rwindiana in a different thread, and Louis (foraloysius) suggested it be given its own home.  It's an eye-opening survey!  My consumption is less than average in a number of categories, but high enough in the Diet category (lots of beef and milk) to push my overall score above what the average American consumes, which is high to begin with.  

 

Was surprised to learn the average single person washes only three loads of clothes each week.  I wash seven loads, and run the dishwasher twice as often as the average person.  Here are my results:

How You Can Conserve Water

These tips offer methods to reduce water consumption.

environment.nationalgeographic.com

 

[frigilux]

I completed the survey a 2nd time as a vegetarian (no beef, pork, poultry).  Made a huge difference in my overall score.

 

[foraloysius]

Here's my footprint. Energy is my problem. Can't do much about it, because I'm in a rental unit. The new HR (HE) boiler helps though.

 

[gansky1]

Thanks for posting this! My sister is Director of Director of Communications for The Water Research Foundation in Denver, CO and she has shared many articles, studies and information over the last couple of years that have really opened my eyes as to the surprising volume of water needed to sustain our comfortable lives. There are some terrific books written in the last few years about the coming water crises across the world.

We take so much for granted when it comes to water because it's piped directly to the house and in most cases is clean and potable right from the tap. And it's cheap. Water and water infrastructure is heavily subsidized by the Federal government and yet, in many localities is still insufficient to meet even daily needs.  A quick Google search for water rights will yield more than you ever will have time to read and, extended globally, more than you can ever read.  

A good place to start for overall basic information is this book: The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman  The author walks you through the struggle to maintain water service in places like Las Vegas, Atlanta and many surprising places around the world you would never thought of as "water stressed".  We do not move water from across the continents or over the oceans the way we do with oil and gas, not yet anyway.

 

 

[mich]

Well...

I tried, four times to complete it, but halfway through, it freezes and won't go any further

Tried it on Chrome & Firefox.

 

[travis]

Interesting. I am not planning to change my diet due to water usage though. These programs are great to get you thinking, but the only true way to know your usage is to do an energy audit.

I think most of this membership has failed the washer loads and energy star questions!

 

[tomturbomatic]

The movie Cadillac Desert was shown on PBS a few years ago and it featured a shot of a YT dishwasher in operation, but the shot was not long enough for me. Our water company gives the average use per person at 70 gallons per day, but I average a little more than that. I have a separate sub meter for outside water use so that I don't get billed for the sewer treatment for those gallons.

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks for this thread, Gentlemen ~

 

 

 

What a fun diversion ! Was shocked at how below average I am, without ever consciously doing anything exteme. Never water lawns, bike all over, my 2002 Firebird had 70,000 miles when I bought it in June 2011. Just checked it now: 84,500. When I start flying again, and going to Mohonk without Paul driving, I'll be gulping far above average in travel usage. Though I do a lot of laundry, I recycle both wash and rinse water, just like Mark and Tim.

 

Was really shocked at how much water goes into a cup of milk or a hamburger. Holy Niagara Falls,

 

But I almost flunked out on the very first question, trying to get it to say I didn't have 10 people living here. Nicely humbling. Good Luck

 

 

Your score
<span style="font-size: 10px;">(gallons/day)</span>

65

670

624

114

1,473

Your pledge

65

670

624

114

1,473

U.S. average

100

1,056

700

232

2,088

<!--

How much water can you save? We're trying to reach 50 million gallons a day nationwide—a first step toward freeing up water to restore rivers, lakes, and other freshwater ecosystems. Every drop counts!

Click on the areas below to take action to reduce your levels of consumption.

Goal
(50 million)

Pledged So Far

 

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<span style="line-height: 140%;">You use less water than average, congratulations! To go further, pledge to use even less water in one or more areas of your daily life. When you agree to do so, our partners will pay to support restoration work that puts water back into the struggling Colorado River on your behalf. Help us Change the Course by pledging now.</span>

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[beekeyknee]

Well, this is all fine and good but I would like to point out that protecting the water supply we have now ranks up there with reduced usage. One thing that concerns me is the Keystone XL pipeline that will run over three rivers including the Missouri and the Ogallala Aquifer.

From what I understand this pipeline will run under much higher pressure than the average pipeline and would be at higher risk of bursting. This could be a terrible environmental disaster. A lot of the country's fresh water supply could be contaminated along with vast amounts of farmland. The central US is the breadbasket of the world. Is it worth the risk? My family and I get water from the Missouri as well as millions of others. The Missouri is the longest river in the United States.

I know this is politically controversial and if the discussion should get heated I suggest we drop it and move it to the Dirty Laundry forum. I don't want to contaminate the Super forum.

http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/tar-sands/keystone-xl-pipeline

 

[fido]

I failed at the first question, zip code! I have wondered about big food processing plants. They must be buying all the water they use so do they just use it once and throw it away or do they have their own filtration plants to recycle it?
At home I do try to minimise my water use, as this is the first place I've lived where water is metered. I use water from the well for watering the garden and making mortar, concrete etc. When I'm on my own the washing machine is rarely on more than twice a week. I mostly have showers, I perhaps take a bath once every 2 months. I've never had a dishwasher and my method of washing up is quite economical with water.
I do wash my hands countless times every day but again try to minimise the actual water used.

 

[foraloysius]

Just use one of the suggested zip codes.

 

[beekeyknee]

My energy usage was over the target but I was way less on everything else. Interesting. I have an old Maytag washer but I only wash one load per week on average. The washer stays.

 

[bajaespuma]

I tried to do this survey but the controls wouldn't register my choices. Too bad.

 

[MrX]

Irish household (2 person)

Here's how our household did on that survey.

The water consumption is being estimated as lower, we average 152L per day here per person and I know from our own consumption ours is higher than that again.

Also, compared to a typical US household we would have a lot of water savings from not having to water outdoor plants at all as the climate's naturally very plant-friendly and self-watering

On the plus side, I'm in a part of the world and a part of the country that water shortages are definitely a non-issue.

The only issues we have are around Dublin (our capital city and largest metro area) but that's largely down to bad planning i.e. too much development too quickly without putting adequate water storage into place. It's also not a major issue, more just the odd hose pipe (garden watering) ban now and then.

There's no shortage of sources though![this post was last edited: 9/14/2013-15:51]

 

[revvinkevin]

 

Wow that was odd, I tried copying and pasting the results and it pasted the entire survey!   Now that I for it deleted, it looks like I am below average by nearly half!   YAY! 
 
Kevin 
 

 

         Water used in your home and yard     104

         Water used for your diet        584

         Water used for your transportation and energy         360

         Water used by your stuff        76

 

[frigilux]

To those for whom the survey isn't working:  Are you using a mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.)?  Initially, I took the survey using an iPad and it quit responding about half-way through.  Works fine using an iMac.

 

[mickeyd]

@washdaddy

The ever-elusive pod, POD, has notoriously been a hard one, stumping even the best CIA decoders. No less than Richard Harris was stumped in "A Beautiful Mind."

 

[mickeyd]

Never mind

Thought I was in Imperial at the POD thread. How did I do that ?

 

[frigilux]

Mickeyd, it's comforting to know that happens to someone besides me!