How much water do you use everyday?

I’m talking how much you drink, cook with, water plants with, and dispose of. Honestly, I am still trying to figure it out. But living in a travel trailer where we literally put the water into the tank, I am much, much more aware of this.

According to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the average person uses about 80-90 gallons of water per day. The largest amount of water being used is flushing the toilet.

On average, because toilets vary, it takes 3gallons to flush a toilet! THREE GALLONS! Before living in my new home on wheels I wouldn’t even bat an eye at this. I would probably think, is that a lot?

Yes, old self, 3 gallons is a lot! Let me put it in perspective, for myself and you:  Corbin and I have a fresh water tank of 32 gallons on the trailer. We bought a water jug that can be filled up a grocery store which holds 6 gallons at a time. Basically since we don’t want a ton of extra weight, we fill it up as needed. Currently we have about 10 gallons in there.

Our 6 gallon water tank is heavy! I’ve carried that thing when completely full. And it’s super hard. A little math for you. A gallon weighs 8.34 pounds, so for six gallons it’s about 50 pounds. Corbin laughs at me trying to lug that thing around a grocery store full of water.

Anyway back to my point, water weighs a lot and we use it fast. Back to the USGS website, an average shower takes 5gallons per minute. FIVE GALLONS PER MINUTE! The average person takes about a ten minute shower…… more math thinking…. that’s 50 gallons of water for one shower. MORE than my tank of water even holds.

The more research I am doing makes me realize water consumption is not something to take lightly.

When we use our toilet we let a little bit of water in the bowl ( probably only 2 ounces) do our business, then hold and flush. Our black water tank, where our waste goes, only holds 23 gallons. So as you can imagine we try to use this toilet only for emergencies because we don’t want to have to go the dump station every other day.

Now that’s just the toilet water. When we want to shower we get our hair and bodies wet enough, turn off the water, lather up, and quickly rinse off. Trying to only use 1-2 gallons of water per shower.  (I am completely estimating here).

When we fill up our entire fresh water tank, like we did this past weekend, we were using water more liberally then we were used to. Especially the last night, we did not want to travel 5 hours with that water weight, so we each took “long” showers to use up the water (probably 6 minute showers). We let the water flow instead of turning it off periodically.

Now to do our dishes, we use water straight from our tank. But instead of letting he faucet go constantly, we essentially do the same as the shower. Get the dish wet, turn off water, lather it up, scrub it if needed, then turn water back on to rinse off. The picture features for this post shows us using this orange bowl to hold the water. We don’t let it go through the drain because we reuse that water and it saves us from having to dump more frequently. I use this same method for washing my face, brushing my teeth, and washing my hands. I probably use about a gallon a day just on dishes.

One last aspect that I have been paying attention too is the amount of water I drink. I’m notoriously known for saying “hydrate or die” meaning, drink a lot of water! And I am still doing this, but now I it takes a little more effort. If I use the water in our tank solely on drinking water, that can go fast. Corbin and I realized in one weekend him and I drank 3 gallons combined. That’s a lot! (We used jugs of water you can buy at the store).

Mmmmmm, water usage.

I could keep going but I think it might be time for me to pass the buck so you can do your own research. Overall I am definitely more conscientious of the amount of water I use per day now.

It was so easy for me before, flip the facet and use. Simple. For me now, not as simple, but using way less water. Overall I’m feeling good about this. Saving money and saving water. You should try it, too!