With the ongoing Rand Water shutdown, we thought it would be worthwhile to look at how many litres of water we use in our everyday tasks.
Flushing a toilet:
According to Better Tourism Africa, on average, flushing a toilet will consume 11 litres of water, making this the most significant contributor to water usage in a household. If you are a family of four, each using the toilet four times a day, your household water consumption for flushing the toilet will be 176 litres per day.
Showers:
The number of litres used in a 10-minute shower will depend on the size of the shower along with the shower head being used. The average number of litres used in a shower ranges from between 10-12 litres per minute this is according to Greater Good SA. This means that on average a 10-minute shower would consume anywhere between 100-120 litres of water.
Faucets:
According to The Gardener. a standard 15mm sink tap has an approximate flow rate of 12 litres per minute. A conventional wash basin has a flow rate of around nine litres per minute. This means that if you open your tap for an average of 10 minutes a day, you would consume around 120 litres of water whilst using a standard sink tap and around 90 litres of water using a wash basin.
Washing machine:
On average, a household will use around 70 litres of water per load of washing in a washing machine this is according to Defy. This figure may vary depending on the size of the washing machine, the type of washing machine you use (such as a top loader or front loader) as well as the settings you choose.
A 13kg top-loading washing machine would use around 181 litres of water per load (13kg) whilst a 7kg front-loading washing machine would use around 51 litres per load (7kg)
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