Water Conservation Calculator

Why Conserve Water?

We use a tremendous amount of water every day, often without giving it a second thought. It is second nature now, to turn on taps and have water on demand. Our household water, however is cleaned and filtered before being piped to our houses. Waste water from households is taken away and cleaned before being suitable for reuse. Each step of the process uses energy, and by saving water we save energy whilst ensuring that we maintain water supplies.

Often significant volumes of water get wasted through inefficient household equipment or wasteful practices. A water conservation calculator will help to determine where you currently use the most water and help identify savings that can be made.

What is a Water Conservation Calculator?

A water conservation calculator prompts you for certain pieces of information about water usage in your household. Typically this will include:

• Number of people in your household
• How many baths are taken per day or week
• How many showers are taken per day or week
• Whether you are using a normal or a power shower
• The average length of each shower
• The estimated flow rate (this is generally measured in gallons per minute) of the shower
• The number of toilet flushes
• How many times the dishwasher is run
• The length of time taps are run in the kitchen and bathroom
• The number of times the washing machine is used
• How often the garden is watered
• Whether the household has a swimming pool

These are just a few of the things that a calculator will take into account, before working out the amount of water that is used. This estimate will then indicate whether you are using more or less than the average amount of water for a household of your size.

When the results have been calculated, the householder then has a road map of water usage in the house and an indication of areas to improve. Often simple steps can offer significant water savings.

Note: No water calculator is likely to take into account water used for drinking. Drinking water is essential to good health and it is important to maintain a suitable daily allowance.

Finding an Online Calculator

There are many comprehensive online water usage calculators. These are simple to use and offer a quick way to determine your household’s water usage. It is interesting to look at a number of these calculators and get a greater appreciation of how different organizations and bodies approach water conservation.

• Miami Dade County – comprehensive online calculator
• h20use.net – room by room interactive calculator
• Government of Canada – room by room guide

Simple Steps to Conserving Water

• Turn the taps off when cleaning teeth
• Cut down on the length of showers -- remember that a five minute power shower is likely to use more water than a bath
• Keep a bottle or jug of water in the refrigerator for drinking instead of running taps until the water runs cold
• Wait until you have a full load before running the washing machine and the dishwasher
• When buying new household equipment, seek items with water saving features
• Replace worn tap washers for a quick and cheap way of saving water
• Wash vegetables in a bowl of water rather than under a running tap
• Install a water butt to collect rain water for the garden
• Use household waste water to water the garden where appropriate

Conserving water will soon become second nature and part of 'green living', along side recycling, using energy more efficiently and exploring alternative fuels.