Do you realise how quickly your water wastage mounts up?

We all like to think we only use as much water as we need to, but when we leave home for the first time it’s all too easy to forget about how much we waste.

Lanes asked 18 to 24 year old university and college students about their water usage habits, by quizzing them on things like how long they leave taps running unnecessarily, how long they spend in the shower and how often they flush the toilet just for things like tissues and cotton buds.

What we found was that, on average, each university or college student wastes a whopping 180 litres a day. That’s the equivalent of more than two bathfuls.

Our research found that an average student wastes daily:

• 90 litres by leaving taps running for 15 minutes a day
• 20 litres through unnecessary toilet flushes
• 70 litres through long showers

How do people waste so much water without realising? Well, here’s a handy guide on how much water things around the home use, on average:

• Leaving the tap running uses 6 litres a minute
• The average person uses 80 litres of water for every bath
• A five-minute shower uses an average of 45 litres of water
• A full load of laundry in the washing machine uses between 50 and 100 litres
• Every time you run the dishwasher, 12 to 20 litres is used
• Toilets use an average of 7 litres for every flush

So, next time you leave the tap running while you clean your teeth, remember that’s 12 litres of water that’s counted towards your daily wastage total.

Information in this blog was taken from the following sources:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from Atomik Research. Total sample size was 1,001 adults aged 18-24. Fieldwork was undertaken between 21-24 March 2016. The survey was carried out online.

Statistics on typical water usage:

http://www.waterwise.org.uk/pages/faqs.html

http://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/customers/how-much-water-do-you-use