In 1900, each of the six million people living in Pennsylvania used about five gallons of water per day. Since then, our population has doubled to almost 12 million people and our water consumption has increased to an average of 62 gallons per day.
Part of this 900 percent increase in water use is due to the many modern water-using conveniences in our homes, such as automatic dishwashers, clothes washers, garbage disposals and home water treatment systems. A significant change in water use occurred when the bathroom was moved indoors. It is ironic that we use one of our most precious resources to remove waste from our homes.
Our water resources are not unlimited. They are affected every day by precipitation, population growth, economic development and pollution. Because water is a resource that must be shared, competition for its use is an ever-increasing management problem. In the past, we tried to solve our supply problems by constructing storage facilities and developing new resources such as wells and reservoirs. However, these measures can be both economically and environmentally costly.
Drought Phases
Over a long period of time, lack of rain will result in drought conditions that affect public and private water systems. To describe the severity of drought conditions, Pennsylvania has developed three drought phases referred to as Drought Watch, Drought Warning and Drought Emergency. These three drought phases have an impact on individual water use during a drought.
Under a Drought Watch, individuals are asked to voluntarily conserve water. The objective of voluntary water conservation is to reduce individual water use by five percent or down to 60 gallons per day based on a statewide average of 62 GPCD.
Under a Drought Warning, individuals are asked to continue their voluntary conservation of water. The objective of voluntary water conservation is to reduce individual water use by 10 percent or down to 56 gallons per person per day.
Under a Drought Emergency, individuals may be required to observe mandatory water use restrictions. The objective of mandatory water use restrictions is to reduce individual water use by 15 percent or down to a low of 55 gallons per person per day.
If drought conditions continue to deteriorate during a Drought Emergency, local municipalities may implement local water rationing in a community. Water rationing requires specific limits on individual water use as set by the local water supplier. For water rationing to work effectively, all individual homes must have a water meter to record the amount of water used by each household. By reading water meters and knowing the number of residents in each home, the water supplier can determine if the household is violating the water rationing regulation.
