Common Water Uses and Amounts

Attachment One
Lesson One: Our Space Station Earth


Common Water Uses and Amounts

Directions: Use this list to get a reasonable estimate of the amount of water you might use in a typical day for each of the following activities:                                          

Personal/Home Water Usage Estimate (Please note: The examples below are used to illustrate the amount of water needed to produce some everyday things): 

Gallon(s) Used

Washing Hands 1/4 gallon per minute ________________________ 
     
Showering 30 gallons per 10 minutes ________________________ 

Bath 40 gallons ________________________ 
         
Brushing teeth 1-2 gallons per time________________________ 
      
Washing a car 20 gallons________________________ 
       
Flushing a toilet 3.5 to 5 gallons/use, (low flow toilets 1.6 gallons)________________________ 
  
Washing dishes w/ water running 20 gallons_______________________
    
Washing dishes w/ dishwasher 10 gallons_______________________
     
Laundry 30 gallons per load_______________________
       
Drinking Water 1/2 gallon per day_______________________
     
Watering lawn 240 gallons (30 minutes)_______________________
    
                                                        Total Gallons Used      _______________________

Additional Information: How Much Water Does It Take?

1. It takes 4,000 gallons of water to generate enough electricity to light a 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours.
   
   
   
2. To produce the newsprint that newspapers use each day, it takes 300 million gallons of water.
   
   
   
3. To produce one gallon of milk, a cow must consume four gallons of water.
   
   
   
4. Eight gallons of water are needed to grow one tomato.