lbbudd Jul 12, 2008 10:45 am

A lady in Canada asked about this. Here is how we compute outdoor water use on a mixed meter, before and after xeriscape conversion. If there is a winterseason, take the average use in Fan and Feb. This becomes the winter average.The extra water used during warm monthsis outdoor use. Add up all the ectra water from the bills for a year. Voila! Now you know theiryearly landscape water use. If there is no clear winter season, the use the London indoor average of 50 gallons per person per day (GPCD number). Not exact, but a very good baseline. EX: a house with 3 people would use 150 gal/day, or 4500 gal/month. Water use over 4500 would be outdoor. Do this water bill monitoringfor theyear before xeriscape conversion, and the year after conversion. This will show overall water use reduction. Cities are using this method to set residiential water budgets and tiered rates for outdoor use.

Laurence Budd, CLT, CLIA,

CWMP DBA Urban Water Conservation
EPA Watersense Partner
IA Select Certified
[email protected] cell
970-402-3216