Typical water usage?

[PriuStorm]

Originally Posted by F8L

If you think about it, you would end up using more water during shower days so on some days you would use less than 22ga. lol

Sure, of course. But other than folks in 3rd world countries who are lucky to have the use of 5 gallons per person per day (which, btw, was the allowance afforded to a friend of mine who took a month long guided safari-type tour of Africa), that low of a water usage is... dare I say... unheard of, or at least, highly unusual in a westernized country.

Last year, a group I belong to challenged everyone to 'make do' with 5 gallons of water for one day. It was very difficult when considering all our modern 'conveniences' (particularly, toileting, showering, hand-washing, etc.). To accomplish such a low usage sustained for several months is quite admirable.

[fuzzy1]

If you think about it, you would end up using more water during shower days so on some days you would use less than 22ga. ...

One can get by on less than 22 gal/day even with a daily shower. I've done it, when home alone.

It helps that our 2 gpm showerhead has one pattern setting that produces an acceptable pattern, to me, when turned down to 0.6-0.7 gpm. But one must not have one of those shower mixer valves that has only a single flow rate, full blast. I regard those valves as a ******* waste.

For the doubters, try practicing with one of the bag-style solar showers. And learn to share a single bag with others.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by PriuStorm

Sure, of course. But other than folks in 3rd world countries who are lucky to have the use of 5 gallons per person per day (which, btw, was the allowance afforded to a friend of mine who took a month long guided safari-type tour of Africa), that low of a water usage is... dare I say... unheard of, or at least, highly unusual in a westernized country.

Totally! I wasn't disagreeing with you. I was just saying how crazy it sounds that you could use less than that on some days.

[Shawn Clark]

There are two primary water users for us: showers and toilets which are roughly equal in consumption. The front loading clothes washer and energy star dishwasher combined are small users in comparison to either of the other two.

Getting by on amounts of ~2 gal/day is trivial for short time periods (camping/backpacking, etc.) where almost all of the water is for drinking, cooking, and washing pans, with a rare solar shower. But at home in town where one is using the sewer system and bathing regularly, and doing laundry the quantity is much higher.

Decisions about how to best reduce shower and toilet water consumption are more delicate...particularly the latter. Skipping showers at times works, but it isn't for everyone. Buying lower flow showerheads and taking shorter showers also works, but some aren't ready for that step. And skipping flushes...well, that is not high on my agenda. I spent too long training my kids to flush (and flush often with the problematic older 1.6 gpf that didn't handle toilet paper well) to untrain them now. Barring necessity, I'm unlikely to change flush habits. So for me, going to a toilet that does the job well with less water is the primary option.

[oxnardprof]

Here in Oxnard, we use 5 HCF, or about 3750 gallons per month for a family of three.

Dishwasher (new model) averages twice per week.
Showers each average once per day (so, three showers per day).
Clothes is front loading, efficient model, average of once per week.
Garden is low water requirement, no lawn.

The 5 HCF per month (our goal is to stay below that number, for example the bill I just got shows 4.6 HCF last billing cycle). If we do so, we will use less than 40 gallons per day per person.

[jayman]

One thing I forgot to mention was that the community I live in has well water, and the water is *very* hard >60 grains. I have a Sears Ultra Soft 800 softener and it regenerates 2-3 times a week

Every time it regenerates, it uses around 0.5 m3 of water. That's about 132 usg

[tripp]

I'm surprised Tom hasn't chimed in on this thread. Cruising sailors regularly get by on very little water. "Water makers" are expensive and can be unreliable. Catching rain water in sails is a tried an true technique, but since you never know when you're gonna get it, you measure every drop.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by tripp

I'm surprised Tom hasn't chimed in on this thread. Cruising sailors regularly get by on very little water. "Water makers" are expensive and can be unreliable. Catching rain water in sails is a tried an true technique, but since you never know when you're gonna get it, you measure every drop.

I did chime in earlier. The issue is that I do most of my cruising on 1/5th of the world's fresh water supply. The water tank on my boat is connected to 5,000 cubic miles of drinking water. On the Great Lakes I don't use a desalinator, I just run the water through a Katadyn ceramic filter, which is cheap to run and very reliable.

I bigger problem for us is black water. We aren't allowed to flush over, like you can do in the ocean, so it all goes into a tank. We are careful with flushing, and use a very efficient hand pumped toilet.

Tom

[jayman]

As an added bonus, the diesel engine in your sailboat will *never* overheat

Hand pumped .... must be a joy when somebody gets the runs

[tripp]

Originally Posted by qbee42

I did chime in earlier. The issue is that I do most of my cruising on 1/5th of the world's fresh water supply. The water tank on my boat is connected to 5,000 cubic miles of drinking water. On the Great Lakes I don't use a desalinator, I just run the water through a Katadyn ceramic filter, which is cheap to run and very reliable.

I bigger problem for us is black water. We aren't allowed to flush over, like you can do in the ocean, so it all goes into a tank. We are careful with flushing, and use a very efficient hand pumped toilet.

Tom

oh yes, so you did. Yeah, I was referring to saltwater cruising. Love the ceramic filters for backpacking but it takes an age to pump a reasonable amount of water.

Do you have a special "marine" one for us on the boat or did you go to REI and get a backpacking one?