Typical water usage?

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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?

 

D'oh!

 

It's a hiking filter. I use a ceramic filter element from an "expedition" unit (made for larger groups). Pressure comes from a Sureflo high-pressure (100 psi) agricultural spray pump powered by 12 VDC. A typical under-sink type filter provides a charcoal pre-filter which removes larger stuff and organic contaminates. Production is about a gallon per minute with a clean filter.

Tom

 

It almost gets warm if we run it long enough.

Flushing a marine head is a bit of an art. It often sounds like this: "Whoomph, squeak. Whoomph, squeak. Whoomph, squeak. <pause> Whoomph; whoomph, whoomph. <pause> WHOOMPHWHOOMPHWHOOMPHWHOOMPH. <pause> TOM! CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THE TOILET?"

Tom

 

LOL.

Canny clever arrangement with your filter, BTW.

 

I think that's a sure sign that you two have been married a bit too long now

 

It's even worse with first timers on the boat. After a basic explanation of the various levers and valves on the marine head, my wife always tells new guests "...and if you can't get it to flush, don't worry about it. We will get it for you - happens all the time..." It's better to flush for someone that to have them either A) break the head, or B) fill the entire 55 gallon holding tank.

Tom

 

Adding to Shawn's comments, I can't understand how we collectively allowed ourselves to be convinced that green lawns are a necessity. Even in an area with plentiful water, like where I live, lawns are a horrible waste of resources: fertilizer, gas for lawn mowing, water to make it green, and all of the time used for lawn care. It just doesn't make sense, unless it's something you really like to do.

Tom

 

How about first timers who develop a serious case of the trots? They might as well jump overboard