Water Footprint Calculator

What Is Your Water Footprint?

Take a water tour with us through your home, yard, diet, and transportation and consumer choices! Then, pledge to cut your water footprint and help return more water to rivers, lakes, wetlands, underground aquifers, and freshwater species.
Know this: The average American lifestyle is kept afloat by nearly 2,000 gallons of H2O a day—twice the global average.

The bright side: By pledging to cut your water footprint, you can help return more water to rivers, lakes, wetlands, underground aquifers, and freshwater species.


Ready for the challenge? Let's get started...


Go
Float along with us through your kitchen, closet, and daily routine to figure out your water footprint. Then pledge to shrink your footprint by 20% and qualify to win great prizes from the Expedition Blue Planet. The more we save, the more water we leave for healthy ecosystems and a sustainable future.


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help tips
You will have help tips along the way.
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Home

View Tip »

Water Fact: Only 5% of the average American water footprint is for home use, and close to half of that is for maintaining lawns and gardens.

Let's find out what your home and garden gallons add up to first. Okay?

Okay!
The water it takes to produce the average American diet alone—approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day—is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household use, transportation, energy, and the consumption of material goods.
Diet

View Tip »

So far, that's probably about 5% of your water footprint. Surprised? In the next section, we'll show you that a whopping 50% or more goes to grow and process the food an average American eats every day. Meat, dairy, and coffee stand out as being some of the most water-intensive fare. Dare to carry on? Let's do it.
Okay!
The water it takes to produce the average American diet alone—approximately 1,000 gallons per person per day—is more than the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household use, transportation, energy, and the consumption of material goods.
Energy

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Water is used to produce the fuels that keep us moving and our planet humming. A gallon of gasoline, for example, requires nearly 13 gallons of H2O to produce. The average American relies on nearly 670 gallons of water a day just for electricity production. So, let’s find out how much water you’re using to fuel your life!
Okay!
The water footprint of your per-day electricity use is based on state averages. If you use alternative energies such as wind and solar, your footprint could be less. (The use of biofuels, however, if they are heavily irrigated, could be another story.) You would also get points, or a footprint reduction, for using energy-star appliances and taking other energy-efficiency measures.
Stuff and Services

View Tip »

Are you a big shopper? Everything we buy requires water to make. Electronics, cotton, and paper are some of the most water-intensive products. In addition, restaurants, post offices, hospitals, and more, also have water footprints that we share. Ready to find out how much water you're gobbling up with the things you buy? Let's do it!
Okay!
According to recent reports, nearly 5% of all U.S. water withdrawals are used to fuel industry and the production of many of the material goods we stock up on weekly, monthly, and yearly.
Zip Code

View Tip »

Please enter your
zip code:
...or try a sample zip code:
The White House 20500
The Grand Canyon 86023
Oprah Winfrey 60607
The Empire State Building 10118
West Hollywood 90027
Next
Climate counts—where you live plays a role in how much water you use, especially when it comes to tending to a yard.
House

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How many people live in your home?
10
{step:1,min:1,max:10, value:10, appendsymbol:''}
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This calculator gives you just YOUR footprint, not your household's.
House

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What year was your home built?
After 1994
Before 1994
I don't know
Next
1994 was the year that federally mandated low-flow showerheads, faucets, and toilets started to appear on the scene in significant numbers.
House

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Have you replaced any of the following?
Faucets
None
Some
All
Toilets
None
Some
All
Showerheads
None
Some
All
Next
On average, 10 gallons per day of your water footprint (or 14% of your indoor use) is lost to leaks. Short of installing new water-efficient fixtures, one of the easiest, most effective ways to cut your footprint is by repairing leaky faucets and toilets.
Bathroom

View Tip »

The average American takes about 5 showers a week. How many do you take in a week?
5
{step:1,min:0,max:20, value:5, appendsymbol:''}
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If you use a low-flow showerhead, you can save 15 gallons of water during a 10-minute shower.
Bathroom

View Tip »

The average American runs a shower for eight minutes. How many minutes does it usually take you to shower?
8
{step:1,min:1,max:30,value:8,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Every time you shave minutes off your use of hot water, you also save energy and keep dollars in your pocket.
Bathroom

View Tip »

How many baths instead of showers do you take during an average week?
0
{step:1,min:0,max:20,appendsymbol:''}
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It takes about 70 gallons of water to fill a bathtub, so showers are generally the more water-efficient way to bathe.
Bathroom

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Do you flush when you pee? Tell the truth! Nobody's watching!
Yes
Sometimes
No
Next
All of those flushes can add up to nearly 20 gallons a day down the toilet. If you still have a standard toilet, which uses close to 3.5 gallons a flush, you can save by retrofitting or filling your tank with something that will displace some of that water, such as a brick.
Laundry

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What kind of washing machine do you use?
Front-loading
Top-loading
Top-loading, but it's water and energy-efficient
Next
Most front-loading machines are energy- and water-efficient, using just over 20 gallons a load, while most top-loading machines, unless they are energy-efficient, use 40 gallons per load.
Laundry

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Is your top loader an energy efficient model (20 gallons of water per load)?
Yes
No
Next
Having an energy efficient washing machine can cut the water you use for laundry by half.
Laundry

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The average person does 3 loads of laundry a week. How many loads do you wash every week?
3
{step:1,min:0,max:20,value:3,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Nearly 22% of indoor home water use comes from doing laundry. Save water by making sure to adjust the settings on your machine to the proper load size.
Kitchen

View Tip »

Does your household use a dishwasher?
Yes
No
Next
Dishwashing is a relatively small part of your water footprint—less than 2% of indoor use—but there are always ways to conserve. Using a machine is actually more water efficient than hand washing, especially if you run full loads.
Kitchen

View Tip »

How many loads do you do a week?
10
{step:1,min:1,max:10,value:10,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Energy Star dishwashers use about 4 gallons of water per load, and even standard machines use only about 6 gallons. Hand washing generally uses about 20 gallons of water each time.
Lawn

View Tip »

How big is the area of your yard that's growing grass, plants, or trees?
I don't have a yard
{step:100,min:0,max:44000,value:0,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Nearly 60% of a person's household water footprint can go toward lawn and garden maintenance.
Lawn

View Tip »

What grows in your yard?
Turf grass: 33%
Plants, trees, shrubs: 33%
Low-water use plants, trees, and shrubs: 33%

{step:1,min:1,max:7}
Next
Plant grasses and shrubs appropriate for your climate—ones that need only modest amounts of irrigation water to supplement rainfall.
Lawn

View Tip »

How do you water your yard?
I don't; I let natural rainfall do it
I water efficiently and only when necessary
I water a lot; I think it's better to water too much than too little
Next
Depending on the size of your lawn and whether you live in a dry region of the country, you could be using hundreds of gallons a week to keep your grass green. Save by collecting water in a rain barrel and using this instead of treated public water on your lawn.
Lawn

View Tip »

Do you have an outdoor pool?
Yes
Yes, and I keep my pool covered
No
Next
The average pool takes 22,000 gallons of water to fill, and if you don't cover it, hundreds of gallons of water per month can be lost due to evaporation.
Diet

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338 gallons of water are used to produce one serving (3 ounces) of beef! Think about that! The average American eats about 7 servings of beef each week. Do you eat more or less?
7 servings weekly
{step:1,min:0,max:14,value:7,appendsymbol:''}
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That quarter pounder is worth more than 30 average American showers. One of the easiest ways to slim your water footprint is to eat less meat and dairy. Another way is to choose grass-fed, rather than grain-fed, since it can take a lot of water to grow corn and other feed crops.
Diet

View Tip »

Raising and processing poultry also requires water—about 88 gallons per serving (3 ounces). The average person eats 7 servings of poultry a week. Do you eat more or less?
7 servings weekly
{step:1,min:0,max:14,value:7,appendsymbol:''}
Next
A serving of poultry costs about 90 gallons of water to produce. There are also water costs embedded in the transportation of food (gasoline costs water to make). So, consider how far your food has to travel, and buy local to cut your water footprint.
Diet

View Tip »

It shouldn't come as a surprise now to learn that it takes about 108 gallons of water to produce a serving (3 ounces) of pork. The average American eats about 6 servings of pork a week. Do you eat more or less?
6 servings weekly
{step:1,min:0,max:12,value:6,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Pork costs water to produce, and traditional pork production—to make your sausage, bacon, and chops—has also been the cause of some water pollution, as pig waste runs into local water sources.
Diet

View Tip »

A gallon (16 cups) of milk—from a cow—requires 880 gallons of water to produce. The average American consumes a cup of milk a day. Do you drink more or less?
1 cup daily
{step:1,min:0,max:10,value:1,appendsymbol:''}
Next
On average, a vegan, a person who doesn't eat meat or dairy, indirectly consumes nearly 600 gallons of water per day less than a person who eats the average American diet.
Diet

View Tip »

How many cups of coffee do you have in a day?
1 cup daily
{step:1,min:0,max:10,value:1,appendsymbol:''}
Next
A cup of coffee takes 55 gallons of water to make, with most of that H2O used to grow the coffee beans.
Transportation

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What is the average fuel efficiency of the car(s) you drive, in miles per gallon?
20 m.p.g.
{step:1,min:0,max:80,value:20,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Washing a car uses about 150 gallons of water, so by washing less frequently you can cut back your water use.
Transportation

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How many miles do you drive a year?
12,000 miles
{step:1000,min:0,max:50000,value:12000,appendsymbol:''}
Next
A gallon of gasoline takes nearly 13 gallons of water to produce. Combine your errands, car pool to work, or take public transportation to reduce both your energy and water use.
Transportation

View Tip »

We're going to ask you a few questions about how much you fly. First, how many short round-trip airline trips do you take a year (0-1,000 miles there and back)?
0
{step:1,min:0,max:100,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco, about 700 miles round-trip, could cost you more than 9,000 gallons of water, or enough for almost 2,000 average dishwasher loads.
Transportation

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How many medium-length trips (1,001-6,000 miles there and back) in a year?
0
{step:1,min:0,max:50,appendsymbol:''}
Next
A cross-country airplane trip (about 6,000 miles) could be worth more than 1,700 standard toilet flushes.
Transportation

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And how many long trips each year (6,001-20,000 miles there and back)?
0
{step:1,min:0,max:50,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Traveling from Chicago to Istanbul is just about 10,000 miles round trip, costing enough water to run electricity in the average American home for one person for more than five years.
Energy

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How much do you spend on home heating, cooling, and electricity per month?
$0.00
{step:1,min:0,max:1000,appendsymbol:''}
Next
The average American spends $264 a month on home heating, cooling, and electricity.
Stuff and Services

View Tip »

The average American spends $1,800 a year on clothes and shoes, including jeans, T-shirts, running shoes, suits, and dress shoes. Do you spend more or less?
A lot more
{step:1,min:0,max:4,value:4,appendsymbol:''}
Next
It takes about 100 gallons of water to grow and process a single pound of cotton, and the average American goes through about 35 pounds of new cotton material each year. Do you really need that additional T-shirt?
Stuff and Services

View Tip »

The average American spends about $1,600 a year to furnish a home. How about you? Include furniture, flooring, lighting, appliances, window coverings and so on.
A lot more
{step:1,min:0,max:4,value:4,appendsymbol:''}
Next
One of the best ways to conserve water is to buy recycled goods, and to recycle your stuff when you’re done with it. Or, stick to buying only what you really need.
Stuff and Services

View Tip »

The average American spends about $1,500 a year on electronics, from computers to home entertainment systems. Do you spend more or less?
A lot more
{step:1,min:0,max:4,value:4,appendsymbol:''}
Next
The water required to create your laptop could wash nearly 70 loads of laundry in a standard machine.
Stuff and Services

View Tip »

Paper soaks up a lot of water! The average person spends about $100 a MONTH on paper, including reading materials, office paper, toilet paper, well you get it... How about you?
A lot more
{step:1,min:0,max:4,value:4,appendsymbol:''}
Next
Recycling a pound of paper, less than the weight of your average newspaper, saves about 3.5 gallons of water. Buying recycled paper products saves water too, as it takes about six gallons of water to produce a dollar worth of paper.
Your score
(gallons/day)
U.S. average  
100
  
1,056
  
700
  
125
  
1,981
Your score
(gallons/day)
151
1,039
738
19
1,947
Your pledge  
151
  
1,039
  
738
  
19
  
1,947
U.S. average  
100
  
1,056
  
700
  
125
  
1,981

How much water can you save? We're trying to reach 50 million gallons a day nationwide—a first step toward freeing up water to restore rivers, lakes, and other freshwater ecosystems. Every drop counts!

Click on the areas below to take action to reduce your levels of consumption.

Goal
(50 million)

Pledged So Far

Water used in your home and yard

Water used for your diet

Water used for your transportation and energy

Water used by your stuff
Pledge this now

Read water conservation tips and facts.

Photo: School of fish

Every Drop Counts!

We live in a watery world, with the average American lifestyle fueled by nearly 2,000 gallons of H2O a day.

What may come as a surprise is that very little of that—only five percent—runs through toilets, taps, and garden hoses at home. Nearly 95 percent of your water footprint is hidden in the food you eat, energy you use, products you buy, and services you rely on.


Find out your water footprint, then pledge to dry it out, joining other nationalgeographic.com users who have already committed to saving thousands of gallons.


The more we save, the more water we leave for healthy ecosystems and a sustainable future.


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