Facts on Water Usage
Many of your everyday activities use water – from bathing and cleaning the house to drinking and cooking. On a broader scale, water is necessary for agriculture, power plants and industrial or mining.
- The average Canadian family spends approximately $500 per year on its water and sewer bill Victoria B.C. is much higher.
- Treating and delivering water takes a lot of energy – letting your faucet run for 5 minutes takes as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours.
- More than 30 percent of household water is for outdoor use, such as watering lawns.
- Turning off the tap water while you brush your teeth can save 8 gallons of water a day – that equals about 200 gallons of water saved per month.
- A faucet that leaks 1 drip per second wastes 3,000 gallons of water each year.
- Leaky toilets can waste up to 200 gallons per day, the equivalent of flushing the toilet 50 times for no reason.
- Older toilets use 60 percent more water per flush as compared to newer high-efficiency model (look for the Water Sense label when buying a new toilet).
- The average bath requires 70 gallons of water while a shower uses 10 to 25 gallons.
- A running hose outdoors – for washing cars or watering plants – can waste 6 gallons of water per minute when left unattended.
Water is a precious resource. There are steps that each of us can take to help preserve and save water in our homes every day.
