Indoor Water Use

The average home on Long Island uses approximately 400 gallons of water every day, and about 70 percent of that water is used indoors. In fact, a toilet alone can use 27 percent of household water.

Almost every activity or daily routine that hap­pens in the home bathroom uses a large quantity of water. For example:

  • Older toilets use between 3.5 and 7 gallons of water per flush.
  • A leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water every day.
  • A bathroom faucet generally runs at 2 gallons of water per minute. By turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving, a person can save more than 200 gallons of water per month.

Outside the bathroom, there are many opportunities to save water. Here are some common water-efficiency measures, along with a few solutions to those problems you may not have known existed:

  • High-efficiency washing machines can conserve large amounts of water. Traditional models can use 50 gallons or more of water per load, but newer, energy- and water-conserving models (front-loading or top-loading, non-agitator ones) use less than 27 gallons per load.
  • Washing the dishes with an open tap can use up to 20 gallons of water, but filling the sink or a bowl and closing the tap saves 10 of those gallons.
  • Keeping a pitcher of water in the refrigerator saves time and water instead of running the tap until it gets cold.
  • Not rinsing dishes prior to loading the dishwasher could save up to 10 gallons per load.

Source: EPA Water Sense

WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to help families and businesses realize that they can reduce water use by doing just a few simple things, such as upgrading to higher quality, more efficient products.