Water Waste: It's Easier
Than You Might Think

Most of us don't think much about the dripping faucet, leaky hose, whistling toilet, or swampy sprinkler head we may live with for months. However, they are continuous forms of water waste that add up faster than you might think. The tables below illustrate how quickly a tiny leak can turn into a big water bill. The first table shows water loss rates in tenths of a gallon, the measure used by Denver Water meters. The second table uses common household measurements most of us are familiar with. Finally, the "Drip Table" allows you to estimate the effects of dripping faucets.

Wasting Water Is Easy: Decimal Gallons
If a leak has a continuous flow of:	It wastes the following number of gallons in:
	1 Hour	1 Day	1 Bill Period*	1 Year
1/10 gallon per minute	6	144	8,640	52,560
2/10 gallon per minute	12	288	17,280	105,120
3/10 gallon per minute	18	432	25,920	157,680
4/10 gallon per minute	24	576	34,560	210,240
5/10 gallon per minute	30	720	43,200	262,800
6/10 gallon per minute	36	864	51,840	315,360
7/10 gallon per minute	42	1,008	60,480	367,920
8/10 gallon per minute	48	1,152	69,120	420,480
9/10 gallon per minute	54	1,296	77,760	473,040
1 gallon per minute	60	1,440	86,400	525,600
* Based on 60 days average per billing period; 365 days/year.

Most of us don't think, as our meters do, in tenths of a gallon. The following table uses the same calculations to estimate the consumption in common household measures like the 2-liter pop bottle.

Wasting Water Is Easy: Common Measures
If a leak has a continuous flow of:	It wastes the following number of gallons in:
	1 Hour	1 Day	1 Bill Period*	1 Year
1 cup (1/16 gal) per minute	4	90	5,400	32,850
1 pint (1/8 gal) per minute	8	180	10,800	65,700
1 quart (1/4 gal) per minute	15	360	21,600	131,400
2 liters (about 1/2 gal) per minute	32	761	45,649	277,698
1 gallon per minute	60	1,440	86,400	525,600
* Based on 60 days average per billing period; 365 days/year.

A leak you can measure by cupfuls or more is an obvious problem few of us would ignore. A dripping faucet is harder to measure and easier to let go "for now." As "for now" stretches to weeks, the water waste adds up, often much faster than we imagine.

The amount of water dripping slowly from a faucet is difficult to generalize about. Not only do drop sizes vary, but terms like "slow drip" are fairly subjective concepts.

What's a "Drop"? Unfortunately, a "drop" of water is not a scientific measurement, because the volume of a drop is affected by variables like the size and shape of the outlet the drop is coming through. For example, there are five "faucet drops" in a milliliter, but twenty "eyedropper drops." Even a drop of rain can vary in size depending on things chemistry classes do experiments with, like surface tension.

What one person considers "slow" might seem fast to someone else. To measure a leak, count drops for 30 seconds, then check the table below to see how much water your result adds up to in a day, a billing cycle of about 60 days, or a year. A drip of 1 drop per second wastes about 60 drops per minute, 5 gallons a day, 300 gallons a billing cycle, and 1,800 gallons if neglected for a year. Perhaps five gallons doesn't seem like a lot for an individual. Consider the community effects, though: If half our single-family residential customers found and fixed a 1 drip per second leak, this would save about 170 million gallons, or 500 acre feet.

A toilet can waste those same five gallons per day in a single unnecessary flush.

Fix a Leaky Toilet? Sure!

A leaking toilet pouring water down its outflow tube can easily consume an additional 100-250 gallons per day. A stream of water the thickness of a pencil, from a faucet or sprinkler head, filling a cup in 30 seconds equals 1 pint per minute and nearly 11,000 gallons per two-month billing period. Denver Water's usage table, "Where Your Water Goes," shows consumption averages for household use.

Wasting Water Is Easy: Drops Add Up
If a leak has a continuous flow of:	It wastes the following number of gallons in:
	Drops/ Minute	1 Day	1 Bill Period*	1 Year
5 drops in 30 seconds	10 dpm	0.8	48	292
10 drops in 30 seconds	20 dpm	1.6	96	584
15 drops in 30 seconds	30 dpm	2.4	144	876
20 drops in 30 seconds	40 dpm	3.2	192	1168
25 drops in 30 seconds	50 dpm	4	240	1460
30 drops in 30 seconds	60 dpm	4.8	288	1752
35 drops in 30 seconds	70 dpm	5.6	336	2044
40 drops in 30 seconds	80 dpm	6.4	384	2336
45 drops in 30 seconds	90 dpm	7.2	432	2628
50 drops in 30 seconds	100 dpm	8	480	2920
55 drops in 30 seconds	110 dpm	8.8	528	3212
60 drops in 30 seconds	120 dpm	9.6	576	3504
* Based on 60 days average per billing period; 365 days/year.

Finally, for most homeowners, the lawn is the single biggest consumer of water, receiving at least half of all the water on a typical residential bill over the year. Why? Because, for example, Kentucky Blue Grass requires between one and two inches of water a week to flourish. A square foot of lawn, covered 1.5 inches deep, has received about a gallon of water. A 50x50-foot yard watered at that rate will consume about 2,500 gallons a week or 20,000 gallons per two-month billing cycle. Seeding with native grasses can cut this consumption in half, and converting to Xeriscape can make a huge difference in your outdoor water usage.

For information on conserving water indoors and out, go to Denver Water's Conservation pages. If you are interested in finding out more about how your household consumes water and the effects various appliances can have, an excellent web site maintained by the California Urban Water Conservation Council, http://www.h2ouse.org/ provides a wealth of information.

Source: waterwaste.html