Activity: Track water usage for one day using our at-home water audit
Age Range: Upper Elementary and older
Do you ever think about how many times a day you use water? Just take a moment to think about all of the things you use water for – cooking, cleaning, bathing, brushing, drinking, and so much more! This activity is designed to bring awareness to the amount of water that we use throughout our day, everyday, even when we may not realize it.
Use the chart provided for just one day to keep track of all of the times throughout the day that you use water. The results may surprise you (and we would love to hear about them)! home-water-audit-data-sheet
To get started, begin making your water usage predictions (in Column A). We have provided a list of everyday activities, and we have also included some blank spaces at the bottom for you to fill in any activities that are not already provided.
Below we have also provided a Key to Flow Rates Chart, which lists gallons of water used per minute based on each activity.
| Water Use | Gallons per minute |
| Kitchen faucet | 2.5 gallons per minute |
| Bathroom faucet | 2.5 gallons per minute |
| Shower | 2.5 gallons per minute |
| Toilet | 1.6 gallons per flush |
| Washing machine | 25 gallons per load on large setting (High efficiency machines are 15 gallons) |
| Dishwasher | 8 gallons per load |
| Garden hose | 3 gallons per minute with nozzle |
1 cubic foot of water = 7.48 gallons
1 Ccf of water = 748 gallons
Ccf = Hundred cubic feet
After you have completed your At Home Water Audit, compare your predicted amounts to your actual amounts. Were you surprised? Are there ways you could have used less water? Was there an activity that you used water for that you did not predict?
As always, we would love to hear about how it went! Feel free to share your audits with us on social media and don’t forget to tag us:
The water audit was adapted from Project WET