Rockland Water Coalition

Calculating how much water we use can be difficult! Firstly we tend to only get a bill every 3 months so it is hard to remember the last water bill you got. Also given all the bills we get – tv, phone, electric & gas, insurance – they can all seem like a blur. 

Bringing our water use into focus can have many benefits – reduced costs, less water waste to be treated at our sewer plants and reduction in the need to implement new water source infrastructure spending. 

Often we tend to think that we can’t control any of this – but each of us acting together can have a significant effect on the amount of water that is used and wasted every day in Rockland County. 

Back to calculating how much water we use in a few easy steps: 

1. Find you last water bill – hopefully it’s filed away somewhere. If not you can always contact your water provider and request a copy.
2. Verify that the bill is an actual reading and not an estimated reading. It will be an actual reading if your water provider has hooked your meter up to the phone line. If your water company still comes by to read the meter then you need to check the actual versus estimate as many times the water company overestimates the use.
3. The water usage is usually based upon a 3-month period and is given in CCF. Each CCF is equivalent to 748 gallons so multiply the number of CCF on your bill by 748. e.g. Bill says 25 CCF used in the billing period then the amount of gallons used is 18700.
4. Next divide this amount by the number of days in the billing period. If you are billed every three months the number of days would be 90 – if billed monthly the number of days would be 30. e.g 90 day bill of 25 CCF is 18700 gallons in 90 days or 207 gallons per day.
5. Next divide this number by the number of people in your household. E.g. 2 people in household then daily usage is 103.5 gallons per person. This is your water usage.
6. Rockland County has an average usage of about 80-100 gallons per person per day. So see how you compare to the average!
7. The environmental protection agency recommends that communities should strive towards 45 gallons per person per day and that this is more than sufficient for normal use. Rockland has a long way to go in terms of reducing our usage to this level however we have to start somewhere
8. Calculate your usage and then make a list of ways you can improve the efficiency of your water use. Improving efficiency and conserving does not mean reducing our quality of life or stopping doing things we like to do. It involves looking at what we do and ensuring that we waste as little water as possible in doing it. Take this challenge and see where you come out.
9. Ways to reduce water include – fitting new water wise toilets (a lot of our water is literally flushed down the toilet), fit low flow fixtures in showers and faucets in high use areas like the kitchen, ensure that sprinkler systems are audited to ensure that the right areas are being covered and water is not being wasted on sidewalks and roads, fit a rain sensor to your sprinkler system so that they do not come on during a rain shower, only water outdoors in the early morning or late at night to ensure that water is not lost to evaporation, plant drought tolerant plants which can survive NY summers, wash cars at a car wash and limit outdoor water use during periods of drought.
10. All of these steps can help us move towards a future where water is available for everyone at an affordable price. How we use our most precious resource is becoming ever more important.  See how you can implement steps to reduce your water usage and track it hrough every bill!

Leave a comment here and tell us how much water you use!