Save Water Indoors
Water Tower: How Does Your Water Use Stack Up?
Our amazing 16-foot tall water tower, made up of 120 one-gallon jugs, is quite the site to see. The display represents how much water one person consumes per day in their home.
“This impressive display illustrates the need for all of us to be more aware of how much water each of us uses on a daily basis,” Mesa Conservation Coordinator Donna DiFrancesco said. “We hope this urges our customers to be responsible in their water usage to protect this valuable resource.”
Want to know how your water use stacks up? Input your monthly water use from your utility bill into this handy worksheet to see how your own usage compares to the average.
The 120 one-gallon jugs on the water tower represent the average number of gallons of water used per person per day in Arizona. How does your water use stack up?
How is Water Used?
Water use is broken down in the following categories, including indoor and outdoor. This is representative of residential use only. Outdoor water use can account for as much as 70 percent of a home’s water use.
- Consumption – 7 gallons
- Household Cleaning (clothes washer, dishwasher, etc.) – 10 gallons
- Faucets – 11 gallons
- Showers and Baths – 13 gallons
- Toilets – 14 gallons
- Outdoors (landscaping, pools, leaks, etc.) – 65 gallons
Where Did the Numbers Come From?
This data was captured from the 2016 Water Research Foundation’s Residential End Uses of Water Report. Essentially 1,000 single-family residential accounts were randomly selected around the country at about 23 geographic and climatic locations. Special electronic devices called data loggers are placed on the water meter that can distinguish the different uses of water throughout the day. This helped to quantify and provide metrics for how much water is used indoors and outdoors and for what specific purpose. Because Arizona has such a unique climate and greater need for outdoor watering, we favored the data from our area and others in the desert southwest.