[vacri]

In 2011, the average californian used about 326 gallons/day of water.

I am gobsmacked - this is a phenomenal amount of water. This is an order of magnitude more than we use here in Melbourne. 326 gallons = 1230 litres, whereas we use ~ 230 litres per person on average. I'm genuinely puzzled by how you use so much water every day.

Previously at the end of a 10-year drought and very low reserves, the government target was 155 litres/day, which was easily done - our household was using about 65-75 litres/day/person, while still doing laundry, daily showering, and keeping a garden. And while we were water-conscious, we weren't particularly strict about it.

I just can't fathom how so many people are using so much water on average every day. Even your tightest suggestion (100 gallons) is double what we're using now in non-drought mode.

[ericabiz]

Not just in Melbourne, but even here in the US that's a lot!

I just pulled up my monthly bill to confirm--my current bill reflects 33 days of service, and is for 3900 gallons. I live in Austin, TX in a single-family home that typically has 3-4 adults in it (me, my roommate, and an Airbnb that's booked out almost every day with 1-2 additional adults.) That 3900 gallon usage, or 118 gal/day, is for all of us combined. So it's quite doable in the US!

I think the biggest contributing factors are:

1) We don't water the lawn. Ever.

2) I've installed all extremely energy-efficient appliances, including new toilets, a washer and a dishwasher that use very little energy.

3) We don't take baths--only showers.

I never feel like I'm scrimping when it comes to water. In fact, if anything, I think we do way more laundry/dishes than the typical household thanks to having an Airbnb and wanting to keep everything clean for our guests.

My conclusion: Americans are going to have to give up on their green lawns, and prioritize energy efficiency in appliances, to get to this level. But it's really doable here in the US.

[ghshephard]

That's an "average" - it varies quite a bit. San Francisco uses around 100 Gallons/Day.

Things like toilets/showers/washing machines are the major indoor elements for high water consumption, California is starting to adopt all of the technologies that Australia has pioneered for decades - things like low flush toilets, low volume showers, low flow faucets, etc... But it will take time (and money) to update the infrastructure.

Also, much of the water use comes from outdoor use - a lot of green lawns in California that are going to have to go away. Also, leaks are a major components.

In order to get to 100 Gallons/day, people are going to have to give up their lawns. And stop filling their swimming pools.

There is zero chance, outside of a major disaster like an earthquake, that Californians would ever use "65-75 liters/day/person" - that's 17 gallons/day/person. You'd see broad deployments of solar powered desalination plants first.

[ptaipale]

Indeed. I live near Helsinki, Finland. Here the average consumption is 155 litres per person per day. That is 40 gallons. So the average Californian consumes almost ten times as much water? That's crazy.

And our consumption is not so modest because we'd be short of water; clean water is the one natural resource we have in abundance here. A drought in the sense of California (or even Britain) is just completely unknown thing here.

By the way, the consumption of water is higher in blocks of flats than it is in detached houses. This is because in detached houses each family or household pays for their own water, but in condominium houses the bill is typically shared among all the flats and the paid out in the maintenance fee.

This applies often even to hot water, so there have been cases where a single old man tells his neighbours that he lets hot water run through the sink just so that he gets even with the family with three small children in the neighbouring flat.