11.D.1.

Description

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Chapter 11 -- National Handbook of

Recommended Methods for Water Data
Acquisition

11.D. DOMESTIC
11.D.1. Description
Domestic water use includes water used for household purposes such as drinking, food
preparation, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, flushing toilets, car washing, and watering lawns
and gardens. Households include single and multi-family dwellings, such as apartments,
condominiums, and small mobile home parks. Domestic use is separated into inside household
uses (bathing, flushing toilets, laundry, cleaning, and cooking) and outside household uses (lawn
and garden watering, car washing, and pools). Inside uses tend to be consistent year round while
outside uses tend to increase during specific seasons, usually summer, depending on the type of
climate. In a study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1984a), the
largest components of inside household use are toilet flushing (39 percent) and bathing (30
percent), which are typical of other estimates in the literature. Outside household uses range from
near 0 percent in humid areas to 60 percent in arid areas (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 1984a).
The domestic water-use activities include withdrawals from ground and surface water; deliveries
from public water suppliers; consumptive use in the form of evaporation, usually during outdoor
use, but also through washing and cooking; releases into wastewater-collection systems; and
return flow, usually through septic systems (fig. 4).

11.D.2. Sources of domestic water-use information

Important sources for most of the above recommended domestic water-use data are (1) studies of
domestic water use by any of several State agencies, including those responsible for water-data
collection, safe drinking water, planning, or water-resource management; and (2) public water
suppliers and wastewater-treatment systems, including studies done for them by consulting firms.

11.D.3. Measurement, estimation, and data-collection

methods for domestic water use
Domestic water withdrawals and return flow usually are determined by multiplying the selfsupplied or self-disposed population by a per capita value (coefficient of water use per person per
day). Deliveries to domestic users are determined from public water-supply customer records or
from estimation methods described in the public water-supply section of this chapter. Releases
after domestic use are determined from wastewater treatment customer records or estimation
methods described in the wastewater collection and return flow section of this chapter.
Evaporation consumptive use is estimated.

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Figure 4. Diagram of domestic water use.

11.D.3.a. Primary data acquisition

Primary data acquisition rarely is used in domestic water use because of the predominately
small users (households). Direct and indirect methods for water-data collection can be used
as part of a statistical sampling program to develop local coefficients of domestic use. The
coefficient of domestic water use can be determined by (1) reviewing public water supply
records of domestic deliveries and population served, (2) measurement of selected
households in a statistical sample, (3) reviewing local studies of domestic use, and (4)
adapting coefficients for local use. The population-served data can be derived from data
available from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, State Planning Offices, USEPA, and public
water suppliers.

11.D.3.b. Secondary data acquisition

Secondary data acquisition in domestic use primarily involves compiling records from
public water suppliers or wastewater treatment facilities. These records need to be analyzed
to ensure that (1) only domestic users are included, (small commercial or industrial users are
excluded); (2) large domestic users, such as apartment complexes, are not excluded; (3) the
meters are replaced regularly; and (4) meter-reading errors are minimal. Estimates of
withdrawal and per capita use data, by county and hydrologic unit, are available from USGS
District offices.

11.D.3.c. Derived data

Domestic water use is determined primarily through the use of coefficients of use per
person. Reasonable per capita values can be developed by three methods: (1) measuring
selected individual household use, (2) reviewing public water-supply or wastewatercollection records of individual household use, or (3) reviewing published reports. Models
can be used to adapt regional correlations factors to local conditions or to project future use
by assuming what impact changes in water use, such as implementing conservation
measures like low-flow toilets, will have on domestic use.
Statistical sampling techniques can be applied to select a population from which
measurement of domestic use can be made. The actual measurements are done by reading
existing meters or by measuring the pumping rate and using time totalizers to record
pumping duration. Possible criteria for developing stratified subsets include the number of
households in the unit or size of lot. Residents may be surveyed to determine other
important criteria, such as family size, age distribution, income, number of bathrooms, or
participation in conservation programs. The coefficients tied to these criteria can be used
with the U.S. Bureau of the Census data to estimate domestic use in similar areas.
The second locally derived per capita correlation method may be developed after a careful
review of public water supply or wastewater-treatment customer records. Because some
wastewater-treatment facilities charge fees according to metered use, self-supplied housing
units that release water to the facilities may be metered for billing purposes. However,
careful examination of these records could take as long as doing meter readings of selected

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households if the records are not automated with sufficient data to determine the actual use.
In addition, population-served data may be difficult to obtain and correlate.
The third method involves using per capita use estimates from other organizations or
published reports. Many studies have been done throughout the country documenting
domestic water use, (see reference list in this section). The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development conducted a nationwide study in 1984 to document how people use
water in their homes. This study has been adapted to regional conditions in many parts of
the country. Average annual domestic use in the Delaware River Basin use is calculated in
(Featherstone, 1991) the following manner (table 2):
(1) PCU(a) = 3(PCU(o) + PCU(i)) + 6(1/2PCU(o) + PCU(i)) + 3PCU(i) 11
where PCU(a) is the average annual per capitause;
PCU(o) is the outdoor per capita use, and
PCU(i) is the indoor per capita use.
Table 2 is useful in adapting published per capita values to local conditions. Nationally,
self-supplied per capita values range from 40 gal/d to 125 gal/d (Solley and others, 1993),
with a mean value of 79 gal/d and a standard deviation of 21. Fifty percent of the values (the
interquartile range) fall between 67 and 88. Generally, the higher per capita uses are in the
West.
Regional planning agencies, State planning agencies, State resource agencies, or the State
public health agencies or consulting firms are possible sources for per capita information.
However, caution must be exercised in using per capita estimates derived by other studies.
Differences in definitions and methods of calculating per capita water use may effect the
comparability of estimates. For example, per capita values based on total withdrawals by
public water suppliers will be higher than those per capita values based on deliveries to
domestic customers.
The self-supplied population may be determined by subtracting the permanent resident
population served by public water supply from the total population. The estimated selfsupplied population will be too low if nonresidents are included in the population served.
When using this technique, vacationers and users of second homes are not considered
residents. Resident population estimates may be obtained from county planners or
consulting firms who have recently studied developments of second homes in an area.
Table2. Breakdown of domestic consumptive use pre-1980 and post 1980 fixture
implementation.

Consumptive use is estimated for self-supplied and delivered domestic water. Domestic
consumptive use is typically estimated by a percentage of water that is withdrawn and
delivered for domestic purposes. Percentage of consumptive use should be based on
information obtained from contacts with water suppliers or from references for each state.
The largest amount of domestic consumptive use probably is from lawn watering, because

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most lawn water is evaporated or transpired. Therefore, estimates of lawn watering are
useful when estimating domestic consumptive use.
Lawn-watering records occasionally are maintained by operators of sewage-treatment
facilities. The records are used to credit water users (who wish to buy a meter) for water not
released to the treatment facilities. Amounts not released are subtracted from water users
wastewater-treatment bills. In some cases, water used for lawn watering can be estimated
from monthly data by calculating the difference between the amount of water used in the
growing season and that used in the winter. This was the method used by Featherstone
(1991) and is included in table 2. Equation (1) could be used to calculate consumptive use
and would be changed in different sections of the country. In the temperate north, outdoor
use peaks only for 3 months, and may be about half of the peak for the 6 spring and fall
months, and 0 for the 3 winter months. In the warmer areas, peak summer use may be for 9
months, and half peak use for the 3 winter months. The value for summer outdoor use will
also vary in different parts of the country. In the east, summer outdoor use is 28 gal/d in the
New Jersey/Pennsylvania area. In the more arid west, summer use is considerably higher
which is why western per capita values are generally higher than eastern ones.
In California, studies of statewide domestic water use (California Department of Water
Resources, 1983, p. 9) indicate that about the same quantities of water are used inside and
outside of dwellings. Usually more than half of the outside landscape irrigation water
evaporates or is transpired by trees and plants. Conversely, only about 2 percent of the water
used inside evaporates. The remainder of the inside water use is discharged to the sewer and
becomes available for reuse. This information can be used to make a conservative estimate
of domestic consumptive use of water.

11.D.3.d. Quality assurance

Quality assurance of domestic water use involves the following procedures: (1) comparing
domestic self supply per capita values with public water-supply per capita values, (2)
comparing population-served values reported by public water suppliers with those included
in publications of the U.S. Bureau of the Census (3) checking account names in meter
readings of public water suppliers to ensure that only domestic users are included, (4)
looking up meter readings for large apartment complexes to ensure that they are included
under domestic use, and, (5) if more than one per capita use value is determined, (for
instance, a per capita use is calculated for each town), calculate the mean, mode,
interquartile range, and standard deviation, and identify and resolve outliers.

11.D.4. Domestic selected references

These references are supplemental to the ones in the General reference Section.
Agthe, D.E., Billings, R.B., and Dworkin, J.M., 1988, Effects of rate structure
knowledge on household water use: Water Resources Bulletin, v. 24, no. 3, p. 627630.
Baumann, D.D., Boland, J.J., and Sims, J.H., 1981, The evaluation of water
conservation for municipal and individual water supply, illustrative examples: Fort
Belvoir, Va., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources, contract
report 82-C1, 356 p.
Bruvold, W.H., and Smith, B.R., 1988, Developing and assessing a model of
residential water conservation: Water Resources Bulletin, v. 24, no. 3, p. 661-669.

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California Department of Water Resources, 1983, Urban water use in California:

California Department of Water Resources Bulletin 166-3, 239 p.
Claborn, B.J., Trauth, K.M., West, R.L., Urban, L.V., 1988, Residential water use
study of Lubbock, Texas, in Symposium on Water-Use Data for Water-Resources
Management, Tucson, Ariz., 1988, Proceedings: American Water Resources
Association, TPS-88-2, p. 872.
DiNatale, K.N., 1981, An assessment of water use and policies in northern Colorado
cities: Fort Collins, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, 200 p.
Featherstone, J.P., 1991, Economic and social benefits of low-consumption toilets in
the Delaware River Basin: Annual Conference on Resources, Engineering and
Operations for the New Decade, 1991, Proceeding:, in American Water Works
Association, p 763-772.
Flack, J.E., 1981, Residential water conservation: American Society of Civil
Engineers, Journal of the Water Resources Planning and Management Division,
Proceedings Paper 16080, p. 85-95.
Goodrich, D.L., 1991, Analysis of a domestic water well survey: Water Well Journal,
v. 45, no. 6, 32 p.
Jones, C.V., Boland, J.J., Crews, J.E., DeKay, C.F., and Morris, J.R., 1984, Municipal
water demand--statistical and management issues: Boulder, Co., and London,
Westview Press, 170 p.
Maddaus, W.O., 1987, The effectiveness of residential water conservation measures:
Denver, Co., Journal of the American Water Works Association, March 1987.
McCray, K., 1986, Water well industry survey: Water Well Journal, v. 40, no. 9, 58 p.
Morgan, W.D., and Smolen, J.C., 1976, Climatic indicators in estimation of municipal
water demand: Water Resources Bulletin, v. 12, no. 3, p. 511- 518.
Seaker, E.M., Sharpe, W.E., 1988, Water use in eight central Pennsylvania homes in
Symposium on Water-Use Data for Water-Resources Management, Tucson, Ariz.,
1988, Proceedings: American Water Resources Association, TPS-88-2, p. 872.
Seidel, H.F., 1985, Water utility operating data--an analysis: American Water Works
Association Journal, v. 77, no. 5, p. 34-41.
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1982, 1980 Census of housing: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1984a, Residential water
conservation projects--Summary report: Office of Policy, Development, and
Research, Building Technology Division.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1984b, Survey of water fixture
use: Office of Policy, Development, and Research, Building Technology Division.

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