 Outdoor
Water Use in the United States
An American family of four can use 400 gallons of water per day,
and about 30 percent of that is devoted to outdoor uses. More than
half of that outdoor water is used for watering lawns and gardens.
Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost
one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion
gallons per day. Other residential outdoor uses include washing
automobiles, maintaining swimming pools, and cleaning sidewalks
and driveways.
Water use varies greatly depending on geographic location and season,
largely as a result of differences in climate. Water withdrawals
for irrigation and landscaping are highest in the drier regions
of the West and Southwest, where population growth is often greatest.
Some experts estimate that up to 50 percent of commercial and residential
irrigation water use goes to waste due to evaporation, wind, improper
system design, or overwatering. Following are some common outdoor
water inefficiencies, but there are simple solutions to reduce water
waste and produce great results:
- Many people water their lawns too often and for too long, oversaturating
plants. It's usually not necessary to water grass every day. Instead,
test your lawn by stepping on a patch of grass; if it springs
back, it doesn't need water.
- Converting to a water-efficient landscape through proper choice
of plants and careful design can reduce outdoor water use by 20
to 50 percent.
- If homeowners with irrigation systems hired WaterSense irrigation
partners to perform regular maintenance, each household could
reduce irrigation water by 15 percent or about 9,000 gallons annually—or
the amount of water that would flow from a garden hose nonstop
for nearly a whole day.
- Soil moisture sensors determine the amount of water in the ground
available to plants. These sensors, when professionally installed
and properly maintained, can potentially save a household more than 11,000 gallons of water used for irrigation annually.
WaterSense, a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, seeks to help homeowners and businesses improve
water efficiency and reduce their costs by promoting efficient irrigation
technologies such as weather-based irrigation controllers and soil
moisture sensors. For more information, visit <www.epa.gov/watersense>.
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