Household Water Use and Fixture Audit

Who this is for

Where the household's water goes, worked out fixture by fixture. A bucket-and-timer test gives each tap and shower its flow, toilets and appliances are counted by use, and the total is set against your meter. A swap planner shows what a lower-flow replacement would save.

Households on a water meter, people who want to see why the bill is what it is, and anyone deciding whether a new shower head or tap is worth buying.

What this helps you track

• The measured flow of every tap and shower in litres a minute
• Litres a day from each fixture at your household's own use
• Toilets, bath and appliances counted by litres per use
• The estimate set against what the meter says
• The daily and yearly saving from a lower-flow replacement

How to use it

1. Write the household, the number of people at home and your litres a day from the meter or bill at the top.
2. For each tap and shower, run it fully open into a measuring jug or bucket, time it, and enter the litres caught and the seconds.
3. Estimate how many minutes a day the whole household runs each one, and the uses a week for toilets, the bath and appliances.
4. Flow, litres a day and the summary are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, divide and multiply across each row.
5. In the swap planner, enter the rated flow printed on any replacement you are considering to see the saving.
6. Work through the drips and leaks list, and compare the estimate with the meter again after any change.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How do I do the bucket-and-timer test?

Turn the tap or shower fully on into a jug or bucket marked in litres, start a timer, and stop after a set number of seconds. Enter the litres and the seconds; the sheet turns them into litres a minute.

Where does litres per use come from for appliances and toilets?

From the manual, the product label or the manufacturer's information sheet, or your own measuring. Mark where each figure came from, because an estimate and a printed figure are not equally reliable.

Why does my estimate not match the meter?

Some use is hard to count, such as filling a kettle, garden watering or a dripping tap. A large gap is also worth checking for leaks, which is what the drips and leaks list is for.

Does the sheet say how much water a household should use?

No. It carries no targets, typical figures or flow limits. Every number is your own measurement or one printed on your own appliances.