Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
The table below shows the typical residential water usage for people, appliances, and activities.
Home and Outdoor Living Water Requirements Source: USDA “Water Systems Handbook.” (Thanks to Keith Oberg, Professional Home Inspection Service, Binghamton, NY, for providing this information.)
Table 1. Home and Outdoor Living Water Requirements
|
Use
|
Flow rate (gpm)
|
Total use (US Gallons
|
|
Adult or child
|
–
|
50-100/day
|
|
Baby
|
–
|
100/day
|
|
Automatic washer
|
5
|
30-50/load
|
|
Dishwasher
|
2
|
7-15/load
|
|
Garbage Disposer
|
3
|
4-6/day
|
|
Kitchen Sink (a)
|
3
|
2-4/use
|
|
Shower or tub
|
5
|
25-60/use
|
|
Toilet Flush
|
3
|
4-7/use
|
|
Bathroom Lavatory Sink
|
2
|
1-2/use
|
|
Water softener regeneration
|
5
|
50/100/cycle
|
|
Backwash Filters
|
10
|
100-200/backwashing
|
|
Outstide hose faucet
|
5
|
?
|
(a) water flow restricting valves and shower heads can reduce flow and water use by up to 50%.
Reverse Osmosis Systems – impact on septic systems and water use:
What about water volume from reverse osmosis water treatment systems? These can vary by manufacturer with a range of 3:1 to 10:1 of waste to product effeciency. “Typically” for every gallon produced with a topo of the line system, 3 to 5 gallons goes into the septic tank. Less effecient systems (regardless of shutoffs) can dump up to 10 gallons to waste for every gallon that goes into the storage tank. Don’t despair…the membranse of ten years ago dumped up to twenty five gallons per gallon of product.
For concurrence: ask the manufacturer for their effeciency, platform statement, and per cent recovery. An ecellent resource for membrane information is the National Sanitation Foundation. I am not confient about the generilized information you obtain via EPA publications, Small Flows, etc. If you posture your inquiries with the reputable manufacturers, you should be able to get reliable flow information.