Introduction
Water consumption entails the total amount of water that is put to within a defined period for referred activities and is measured in consumed volume per time per person (or per community or institution). This paper discusses the consumption of water with a concentration on usage by individuals or households. Corresponding charts are presented as well.
Variation in Water Demand
The total water demand of a community, a household, an industry, or a country is dependent on requirements for its usage. Water demand rate for a household differs from that by industry within the same day and as well differs from the entire per-capital demand of a community. For instance, the water demand in a household may be dependent on usage for cooking, lawn-sprinkling, personal hygiene (such as in washing and in the toilets), and for drinking, while that demanded by industry could be for usage in the manufacturing sector, irrigational activities, laundries, as well as in restaurants, and that for usage by a community may include street cleaning, school supplies, fire fighting. However, in supplying water, there is a provision for losses that may be as a result of leakages in the mains and in-house plumb-line appurtenances.
For an Individual, a community, or an industry, water consumption varies within the seasons, the days, and even within the hours. For instance, water demand in the falls is less than that from hot summers for communities. Water demand for a household during weekends is more than it would be during working days when people spend more time in public places like schools and offices. And then, the water consumed by a household in hours equally varies. Within the early hours of 1 AM to 4 AM, most people are asleep and there is a reflecting minimum water demand. From about 6 AM to 8 AM or even 9 AM, there is significant water usage as people will be cooking breakfast, taking their bathe for work or for school, and then there is a decrease of the usage for a specified household from 10 AM to 2 PM when most people would be away from home. From 2 PM, the demand is on the increase again with the presence of house members returning home. By around 6 PM, water consumed by a house reaches the peak as most domestic activities are carried out within the time. Figure 1 presents the general water usage in a house (it is built from Table 1). The chart is a reflection of studies conducted in 2007/2008 in the US on house water consumption rate and identifies that in a day, and identifies that for a house, 24 % of the water is used in the toilets, 1 % is used for washing dishes, and 29 % is used for bathing, and so on. Figure 2 presents a graphical illustration of hourly water consumed by a household during fall; during hot summers, the daily consumption will have a higher peak.
Generally speaking, approximately four hundred and ten billion gallons of water are consumed in the United States from the various consumptive units. The total consumption is however on the decrease. The consumption in the year 2000 is 5% less than that which was used in the year 1980. This may be accounted for by the steady decrease in irrigational activities as well as the withdrawal from thermoelectricity generation which constituted the largest water consumptions in the 1980s. There is equally a steady withdrawal from public supplies since the 80s, which may be accounted for by alternative supplies within households.
Conclusion
This paper discusses water consumption streamlined to individual consumption.