Activity 2.2.1 – My daily water use

 Water Usage Calculations

Below are the gallons used for June, July, and August for the apartment that I live in with my sister. 

June - 2,543 gallons  July - 2,932 gallons  August - 2,726 gallons

To average how many gallons of water my apartment uses for three months, I added the separate month totals together which equals 2,737 gallons.

I then divided the average monthly usage by 2 which is 1,368.5 to find how many gallons each person uses monthly.

After that, I divided the per person per month total by 30 days and that was 45.6 gallons per person per day. 

Name of Water Calculator's and URLs                                    My Per Person Usage

1. My San Antonio Water System Utility bill                                              45.6 gallons/day per person

N/A 

2. Resident Water Consumption Calculator                                               47 gallons/day per person

https://cob.org/services/utilities/water-calculator

3.  Water Use Calculator                                                                               45 gallons/day per person

https://www.chelanpud.org/conservationhome/water-conservation/water-use-calculator

Summary Results

According to the EPA, the average amount of water a person uses daily is 88 gallons. After calculating how many gallons I use daily, I found that I pay for around half the amount the average American uses. This does make sense for my lifestyle. Even though I shower almost every day, I mostly shower at the gym after I work out. I also do my laundry but I use the washer and dryer at my parent's house weekly. I clean the dishes about 3-4 times a month because my sister and I don’t use many dishes since most meals we make come from a box or container. I definitely use more water on the day-to-day but just not at my apartment.

Above, is the result of calculations made from answering questions on how much water I use for certain water utilities from two different websites. I live in an apartment and I realized while answering the questions that I was bound to use less water than the average person homeowner. The websites asked questions like about outside water usage such as watering plants but since I don't have a backyard or front yard, I don’t need to use water outside. However, I do take baths twice a week and I use a lot of water for my baths because my water drains quickly.

In conclusion, I do use more water than what I pay for monthly. For the past couple of months, I’ve been more aware of how much energy I use and I will continue to make sure that I live an energy-efficient life and this activity helped me towards that step. 

References

“Chelan Pud: Water Use Calculator.” (n.d.) Home, https://www.chelanpud.org/conservationhome/water-conservation/water-use-calculator. 

“Residential Water Consumption Calculator.” (n.d.) City of Bellingham, 9 Aug. 2020, https://cob.org/services/utilities/water-calculator.

“Understanding Your Water Bill.” (n.d.) EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 25 Mar. 2022, https://www.epa.gov/watersense/understanding-your-water-bill#:~:text=One%20CCF%20is%20equal%20to,in%20a%2030%2Dday%20period.