Estimating Water Usage:

1. (10 points) In the table below, provide the required information and enter the information about your household’s annual water usage from the Water Use calculator. To calculate the percentage for each category, simply divide the value in each category by the Total Household Use and multiply by 100 (to convert proportion to percentage).

Household Daily Use (gallons)
Percentage of Total
Shower & Bath

Toilet

Sink

Dishes by hand

Dishwasher

Laundry

Lawn

Outside & Pool

Total Household Use

2. (15 points) Which category comprised the greatest percentage of your household’s water use? Was this surprising to you? Why or why not?

3. (10 points) Many people in rural areas in developing countries must still carry water from its source to their homes. If you were to carry the amount of water used per person in your household on an average day, and a gallon of water weighs approximately 8.3 lbs, how many pounds of water would you need to carry each day?

Water Use Analysis:

4. (5 points) Enter the “Daily Water Use” values from the calculator in the table below.

Daily
Monthly
Yearly
Your Household (gallons)

National Household Average (gallons, family of 4) (from United States Geological Survey: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html)
400 gallons
12,000 gallons
144,000 gallons

5. (15 points) How does your household’s water usage compare to the national average? Please explain what the differences may be attributed to.

Analyzing Changes:

6. (10 points) Examine how small changes in lifestyle would affect your household’s total water usage. Return to the water calculator and make a reasonable change that would reduce your overall water usage – describe the change in the table below. Press “Calculate” after making the change, calculate the number of gallons saved per year, and enter it in the table. Reset the calculator to its original values, and repeat the procedure for two additional changes.

Change
Reduction in Annual
Water Use (gal)

7. (15 points) Seeing the reductions in water use that occur as a result of these changes, would you be willing to immediately implement any of them? Explain why or why not.

Losses from Drips and Leaks:

8. (5 points) Open the WaterWiser Drip Calculator, enter the values in the table below from the “# of drips per minute” box, hit the “Now Calculate” button, and enter the results in the table. Let’s assume that your home has leaks like those listed. For each of the drip rates, add the Daily Waste from leaks to your Total Per Capita Daily Use from the Tampa Water Calculator. This would be your new Total Daily Water Use. Then calculate the percentage of the total water used that is due to the leak. As you did previously, simply divide the Daily Waste value by the Total Household Use and multiply by 100 (to convert proportion to percentage).

Total Per Capita Daily Use from Water Use Calculator: ____________________ gallons

Drips per Minute
Daily Waste (gal)
New Total Daily Water Use (gal)
Percentage of
Total Due to Leak
5

10

15

30

60

9. (15 points) Does seeing the potential losses in leaks cause you to check your home for leaking pipes and toilets? Explain why or why not.