Water Use Inventory Part I – Reading a Water Bill To complete this part of the activity, you must get a copy of your water bill. Ask your parents to visit this link for the city of Turlock to get the bill online if they don’t have a hard copy. https://ci.turlock.ca.us/citydepartments/administrativeservices/financedivision/utilitybilling/ If you cannot get a copy of your water bill, you may do the calculations based on the water bill of one of your classmates. If you use a classmate’s bill, you must determine proportionally how much water is used by your household versus your classmate’s household. For example, if you use the bill of a classmate with five members of their household and you have three members of your household, you should use 60% of the amounts on their bill (if the household sizes were reversed, you would use 167% of the amounts on their bill) 1) Determine the number of days covered by the bill: _______ days 2) On the bill, find the total amount being charged for water (do not include any late charges): $_______ The city of Turlock meters water and bills customers by the gallon. 3) Calculate the average cost of water to your household. (use this result in Part III) Use the entire “WATER CHARGES” cost and not just the Commodity Charge total cost per gallon: _______ $/gallon 4) Determine the total volume of water used by your household in gallons for the time period of the bill: _______ gallons 5) Determine the average volume of water in gallons used per person for the time period of the bill: _______ gallons/person 6) Determine the average volume of water in gallons used per day by your household: _______ gallons/day 7) Determine the average volume of water in gallons used per person per day: _______ gallons/person/day How We Pay for Water in Turlock in 2015 Capacity Charge: $20.00 (This is to maintain pipes, wells, pumps, water quality, etc.) Everyone pays this much no matter how much they use. Customer Charge: $2.50 Pays for metering and billing Commodity Charge: $0.57 per 1000 gallons Cost per gallon of water. Part II – Estimated Water Use The figures in the “Estimated Volume of Water Used” column are estimates. There is much variation in these values from home to home. For example, if you have a water-efficient showerhead the water flow will be about half the amount for a standard showerhead. If you have a water-efficient toilet the water used per flush will be as low as 1.3 gallons per flush. The amount of water used for tooth brushing, shaving, hand and face washing, and dishwashing will vary significantly based on the time spent and the faucet setting. The amount of water used in the yard will vary depending on the area in need of water and the frequency of watering. Determine the actual amount of water used by your household. Some appliances (toilets, washing machine, and dishwashers for example) will have a label stating the amount of water used per flush or use. You may also use a pitcher or bucket to estimate the rate that water flows from a faucet, showerhead, or hose. After collecting water and measuring its volume, don’t waste the water – use it water for watering plants in or around your house. Use Shower Fill bathtub Toilet Flushing Approximate Volume of Water Used 2-10 gal/min 30-50 gal/use 1.5-5 gal/flush Tooth brushing Washing hands and face Shaving Cooking Clothes Washing Machine Dish Washing by hand 1-5 gal/min 1-3 gal/min 1-5 gal/min 1-10 gal/meal 20-50 gal/use (depending of setting) 5-40 gal/occurrence Dish Washing Watering the Yard Lawn Sprinklers Washing Car Wash down driveway w/hose Replace evaporation from swimming pool 15-30 gal/use (depending on setting) 10-20 gal/min 5-20 gal/min 10-20 gal/min 10-20 gal/min Varies widely effective date > fiscal year > Commodity Charge, $ per 1000 gallons System Average Single/Multi Residential Commercial/Industrial/Institutional Landscape Service Charge, $ per meter per month 1" or less 1.1/2" 2" 3" 4" 6" 8" 10" Customer Charge, $ per account per month 7/1/2014 FY15 1/1/2015 FY15 1/1/2016 FY16 1/1/2017 FY17 $0.45 $0.48 $0.37 $0.51 $0.53 $0.57 $0.43 $0.60 $0.58 $0.63 $0.46 $0.65 $17.50 $35.00 $56.00 $123.00 $210.00 $438.00 $840.00 $1,330.00 $20.00 $40.00 $64.00 $140.00 $240.00 $500.00 $960.00 $1,520.00 $2.20 $2.50 Estimated Volume of Water Used 1/1/2018 FY18 1/1/2019 FY19 $0.68 $0.74 $0.54 $0.75 $0.77 $0.84 $0.60 $0.84 $0.86 $0.94 $0.67 $0.94 $21.20 $42.40 $67.90 $149.00 $255.00 $530.00 $1,018.00 $1,612.00 $24.10 $48.20 $77.20 $169.00 $290.00 $603.00 $1,157.00 $1,832.00 $26.50 $53.00 $84.80 $186.00 $318.00 $663.00 $1,272.00 $2,014.00 $29.40 $58.80 $94.10 $206.00 $353.00 $735.00 $1,412.00 $2,235.00 $2.60 $3.00 $3.30 $3.60 Part III – Personal Water-Use Inventory For shared activities like washing clothes, cooking, watering the yard, etc., calculate your share of the water used. For example, if there are 4 people in your household and the washing machine is estimated to use 40 gallons per load, your share is 40/4 = 10 gallons. For activities that are not applicable to your family (watering the yard, if you live in an apartment; swimming pool evaporation, if you have no pool, etc.) write “NA” in the boxes for that activity. Use the data from your estimates in Part II to fill in the “Estimated Volume of Water Used” (third column). Use the appropriate calculation in Part I to fill in the “Cost of Water per Gallon” (sixth column). Time (in minutes) or Number of Uses per Day Use Estimated Volume of Water Used (from Part II including units) Estimated Volume of Water Used per day (gallons) Cost of Water per Gallon (from Part I) Estimated Cost of Water per day Estimated Cost of Water per year Shower Fill Bathtub Flush Toilets Brush Teeth Wash hands and/or face Shave Cook Wash Clothes Wash Dishes Water Yard Use Lawn Sprinklers Wash Cars Wash driveway Fill Swimming Pool Other: Other: Totals N/A Part IV – Questions 1) How do the results of your calculations in Part I compare to the totals in Part III? 2) How could the Personal Water-Use Inventory (Part III) have more accurately estimated the actual amount of water used by you and your family? 3) If you did not use your own water bill check here: ____ and respond to the following: Explain why proportionally adjusting a classmate’s bill to determine your household water consumption is not an accurate way of estimating your water use and costs.