Household Water Use | Town of Cochrane

In 2023, the Cochrane water treatment plant produced 3,126 million litres of water. Approximately 2,006 million litres of this was consumed in residential homes.

The average residential home used 388 litres/day during the winter and 494 litres/day during the summer. On a monthly basis, this works out to an average consumption of 11.4 cubic metres (11,400 litres) and 14.4 cubic metres (14,400 litres) respectively.

Water use check: things to look for at home

Concerned about your water use? Check the following around your home for leaks or excess water use.

Leaking toilet

If the flapper in your toilet doesn’t close properly after you flush, up to hundreds of litres per hour can flow through it. A small leak might not make any noise and can be hard to notice, but can waste a lot of water over the whole month. Check for leaks by adding food colouring in the toilet tank. If the colour goes into the bowl, you have a leak. You can also get tabs from the Water department to help with this.

Furnace humidifier flow

Water softener

Irrigation systems

Outside taps

In-floor heating systems

Typical household water use

If you are concerned about your household water use, consider comparing your household use to the average water use for certain fixtures and appliances. This can help give you a sense of whether you are using more water than expected:

taking a 10-minutes shower with a low flow shower head uses 76 litres of water per person
one high efficient dishwasher load uses 15 litres of water, older dishwashers might use up to 40 litres
washing a load of laundry in a high-efficiency machine uses about 45 litres, but an older machine might use 140 litres
flushing the toilet four times a day per person uses 48 litres daily (around 4.8 litres per flush)

CMHC Household Guide to Water Efficiency

Household Conservation Tips

It's also good to keep in mind ways to conserve water when thinking about your household water use. Here are a few helpful tips:

Tap water running — Be conscious of running your taps

dishes in dishwasher — Scrape your plates after eating

person in warm blanket — Wrap up in a blanket to keep warm

man fixing toilet — Be vigilant of leaking toilets

full laundry basket — Do a full load of laundry

Water meters

The Town of Cochrane uses two kinds of water metres to measure how much water you use at home.

The iPerl

The SRII

How to read your water meter

Monthly meter reads

Approximately 11,450 homes are equipped with radio transmitters (right) that are used to collect monthly metre reads. Of these radios, 72 per cent are equipped with the function of storing hourly meter readings for 35 days.

Overnight test

If you are concerned you may have a leak, you can use your water meter readings to check for a leak. Your meter is in your basement close to the furnace or hot water tank.

read your water meter before you go to bed
read the meter again in the morning before using any water

These two readings will tell you how much water was used overnight.