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If you want to estimate what your water usage is, then try doing our Home Water Audit for a week. It will enable you to calculate your average weekly consumption. Your water consumption is affected by the number of people in your household, how often you use appliances and the general condition of your internal pipework and appliances. Filling up the checklist below starts you on the water saving audit trail. Just write down the number of times each day people in your household do or use the following:

Watering Gardens

Using a garden hose or sprinkler for one hour can use up to 1 cubic metre (1,000 litres). That's equivalent to an average family's usage in 48 hours. Power Showers: A normal shower uses around 30 litres but power showers can use much more, approximately 60 -100 litres per use.

Toilet Flushing

A regular flush uses around 8 litres of water but older W.C.s use 9 litres. In fact, toilets on average account for 30% of water in the home. If you spend most of your time at home, this figure and your overall water consumption will be higher.

Baths

An average bath uses about 80 litres of water.

Overflows

These can waste a lot of water and it is not always obvious e.g. in some cases and contrary to water regulations, the overflow pipe is plumbed into bath overflows or even the flush pipe of the toilet and so wastage is not always noticeable.

Dripping taps

Check all your taps and make sure they shut off securely. Change washers if necessary. A tap dripping at 1 drop per second can waste 6,100 litres of water a year.

Water Softeners

Check that the softener is set correctly for local water conditions by referring to the manufacturer's manual. If possible, turn the softener off for a week and take a meter reading before and after to see if there is a noticeable difference.

Swimming Pools and Ponds

Topping up swimming pools and ponds uses up to 1,000 litres per hour by hosepipe and some pools automatically refill when the level is low.

Summer Consumption

Most people use more water in summer, not only because they water their gardens but through 'spring cleaning' and taking more showers.

Extra Visitors

The more people in your home, the higher the water consumption.