Let’s dive deep into our daily water usage! As you may know, freshwater is crucial to our lives in more ways than we can count. Whether it’s for drinking, showering, cleaning, cooking, or anything else, freshwater is at our fingertips. But how much water goes into our days without us even knowing? Our use of water isn’t limited to the water you see throughout the day! On a daily basis, we contribute to the consumption of a much larger quantity of water, which is used in the production of the food, materials, and energy that go into our lives. All of this “invisible” water combined with our “visible” water makes up what is known as our personal water footprint.

Did you know that the average person in the United States has a footprint of around 2000 gallons per day? More often than not, that comes as a huge surprise.That’s why, for today on Fix-A-Leak Week, we encourage everyone to discover your own water footprint!

The number that appears at the end is your water footprint: how much water you use on average on a daily basis when you consider everything. . . or is it? After all, water footprints can’t take into account irregular water usage like household leaks. According to SeaMetrics, on average, up to 10 gallons per day of your water footprint is lost to leaks. Leaks are a whole different type of “invisible” water. Unlike the kind used in food, material, and energy production, freshwater that flows through leaks has absolutely no benefits. However, also unlike the other “invisible” water, water lost through leaks is directly manageable. So, by considering leaks, you can eliminate the bad kind of “invisible” water and keep your water footprint as low as it can be!