How much water do you use during an average day? 80-gallons seems like a lot to me.

[Milaca]

To survive drought, some southern California residents must reduce their water usage from 125 gallons to 80 gallons a day per person.
What?
What are residents doing with all of that water? Watering their lawns every day? Washing their cars every day? Running a commercial laundromat from their house?

According to one source on the internet, an average shower consumes 17.2 gallons of water. Toilets made after 1992 consume 1.6 gallons per flush.

I did not shower today and I estimate that I used less than 10 gallons of water. Had I taken a shower, it would have been less than 25 gallons total.

I just can't comprehend 125 or even 80 gallons of water being used per person, especially when they have a significant drought.

Can somebody help me to understand? Below is a link to the LA Times article:

Can you get by on just 80 gallons of water a day? - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

[StudeRich]

Something is wrong with those Numbers for sure!

We have a well water system and the Culligan Electronic Multi Filters, Iron separators THREE Systems with a Digital Meter that counts all the daily water usage, the Small about that is used daily to flush the filters, the every other day Major flush & dump of a 20 gallon Tank, 5 people, a wash machine, dish washer, a person who showers every Day, but, NO Outdoor water use at ALL.
No car washes, average 110 Gal. a day, sometimes like when the Culligan dumps, 150-160 Gal. a Day Total go through those filters to the house, that's all!

Not per person, but for one 4 Bedroom 2 Bath House with 5 Adults!

I am pretty sure Los Angeles County residents are not allowed to have Lawns, just Colored Rock Yards, so yes WHERE is the water going?

[Bob Andrews]

Like most things in the media these days, stories like this aren’t necessarily about informing the public, they are about pushing an agenda.

[64studeavanti]

In my early days, I worked for a water/sewer utility. IIRC, the average winter usage a month was 10 CCF, about 7,500 gallons. Assuming a family of 4, that would be 1875 gallons/person/month for a usage of 62.5 gallons/person/day. In the summer watering season, the usage could double.
if you have utility provided water, the usage will be on the bill. I am on a well/septic, so no help there. I do recall that in our previous residence, we paid about $80/month for water. The rate at that time was around $1.00/100 gallons. So our family of 4 used 8,000 gallons/month. The few times we watered the lawn, we would get a $400 water bill.
Fl averages 50" rain/year and for the last 20 years have been in a "drought". We have been restricted to watering 1-2 days a week depending on how serious the "drought" is.

[shifter4]

Here in my city in Florida , we are charged for a minimum of 2000 gal. per month , even if we do not use that much . Then , we pay a higher rate for the outflow / sewage on that amount . That calculates to 67 gal / day . I live alone . Most months , I pay the minimum , but occasionally I do exceed that usage , as I am a plant / yard enthusiast . I have shade , and water selectively .
There are yard irrigation limits on the books , mostly unenforced , but some in the neighborhood water their yards every day , and some never at all .
There's good justification to encourage good water management , even here in Florida , i.e. Salt water intrusion , very rapid population growth , etc etc .
One comment : Trying to maintain a lush yard in an area that is naturally a dry climate probably can't be sustained forever. Ma Nature spent thousands of years adapting to the actual climate of various area , and the native plantscape is the result. Following that guideline with sensible additions , seems the best route to me .
Add in plants from similar climate areas around the world for variety .

[Milaca]

I re-read the article and came upon this paragraph:
"Officials said that’s the number needed to conserve critical supplies for health and safety amid worsening drought — and to prevent a full outdoor watering ban as soon as September. Currently, the average potable water use across the MWD’s service area — including residential, commercial and industrial water use — amounts to 125 gallons per person per day."

If you take commercial and industrial water use out of the equation, I imagine the amount would be much less.
I agree with the comment made by Shifter4, this is a naturally dry climate and watering lawns is not sustainable. Plant native species that can tolerate the dry climate. During a drought, water should be conserved for necessity, not for vanity like green lawns.

[creegster]

I live in Los Angeles. I have a rock garden with cactus for a front yard, and the city paid me $4K to help landscape it and remove the grass that was in there previously. Thats how much they want to reduce water consumption.
One of my neighbors waters her lush green grass with a hose at least 3x per week, during the middle of the day when most of it will evaporate (hose watering is also very inefficient compared to sprinklers or drip irrigation). And she does that almost year round as it is warm and dry here most of the time.
The water table in the Los Angeles basin was within 5-10 feet below the surface for a long time until the population here exploded in the 1940s (or thereabouts). Where I live is all houses: it used to be an avocado farm, and Hollywood and Beverly Hills were fruit tree farms in the late 1800s, since there was much opportunity for agriculture here.
There are many people that dont care and will water their grass/plants at the worst time of the day, with no interest in changing, even though we have been in a drought for a long time. Its bad here, and one of the only ways to get people to care is to charge them for it. Carrot vs. Stick.

My wife is going to have to stop taking baths, which also wastes a lot of water. But she pays the water bill, so that is her business.

Regardless of this, it still misses the mark since most water usage and most water waste is done by business/manufacturing.

[doug]

I live in L.A. and with city provided landscape a couple of years ago, we use about 48 gallons per day each person. Haven't watered lawn or plants this year and still have to trim them back twice a year.

We are not fanatics, but simple measures to slow water waste is very effective.

[PackardV8]

In a former life, I was in sales/marketing/advertising. The motto, from Winston Churchill:

"The only statistics I trust are those I made up myself."

Good mandated intentions don't always produce good results. We bought a low-GPM-per-flush toilet; used only 1.6 gallons per. Problem was, it didn't always flush cleanly, so it was sometimes flushed two or three times per use.

jack vines

[Milaca]

Meanwhile, Nestle continues to bottle water in southern California from water that it obtains from a national forest, of which they pay the U.S. Forest Service $2100 each year. There is probably much more to the story than what the following article provides, but it appears that government politics are at least partly to blame for the water scarcity.
Facing Droughts, California Challenges Nestlé Over Water Use - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[PackardV8]

If sane water use policies were ever considered by cites, there wouldn't be a golf course in the southwest and certainly no fountains in Las Vegas.

jack vines

[creegster]

In a former life, I was in sales/marketing/advertising. The motto, from Winston Churchill:

"The only statistics I trust are those I made up myself."

Good mandated intentions don't always produce good results. We bought a low-GPM-per-flush toilet; used only 1.6 gallons per. Problem was, it didn't always flush cleanly, so it was sometimes flushed two or three times per use.

jack vines

Eat more fiber. Lol!

[gjamesk]

If sane water use policies were ever considered by cites, there wouldn't be a golf course in the southwest and certainly no fountains in Las Vegas.

jack vines

No worries! Just go deeper!

https://ktla.com/news/the-water-is-not-there-drought-forces-las-vegas-to-draw-from-deeper-within-lake-mead/

And golf courses? Big business in the Phoenix area.

https://www.visitphoenix.com/things-to-do/outdoors/golf/

[PackardV8]

And golf courses? Big business in the Phoenix area.
https://www.visitphoenix.com/things-...outdoors/golf/

It's corporate suicide to miss quarterly profit projections. To meet those projections, big business would drain the last drop of water from Lake Mead and the Colorado river. Next quarter? Well, by then more stock options will have vested; I can cash out and leave no forwarding address.

jack vines

[Milaca]

The solution may be artificial turf!