Domestic and Commercial Water Supply

Domestic water use includes uses that take place in residential homes, whereas commercial water uses are those which occur in office buildings, hotels, restaurants, civilian and military institutions, public and private golf courses, and other nonindustrial commercial facilities. Combined freshwater withdrawals for domestic and commercial use in the U.S. in 1990 totaled 33,600 million gallons per day (mgd), or 10 percent of total freshwater withdrawals for all offstream categories.

Typical categories of residential water use include normal household uses such as:

Drinking and cooking

Bathing

Toilet flushing

Washing dishes

Watering lawns and gardens

Washing clothes

Washing cars

Maintaining swimming pools

The largest percentage of indoor water use occurs in the bathroom. Outdoor residential water use, however, varies greatly depending on geographic location and season. On an annual average basis, outdoor water use in the arid West and Southwest is much greater than that in the East or Midwest. In Michigan, the average household uses 75 gallons per person per day. The average Michigan school uses 15 to 25 gallons of water per student per day.