Water Uses and Amounts

Water Uses and Amounts

Directions:  Use this list to get a reasonable estimate of the amount of water used
for each of the following activities.

Washing Hands                               1/4 gallon per minute
Showering                                        30 gallons per 10 minutes
Bath                                                  40 gallons 
Brushing teeth                                  1-2 gallons
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)

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.
 

Please note: The above examples are used to illustrate the amount of water needed to produce some everyday things.