Potable water use in Canada

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Release date: June 11, 2019
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Potable water use in Canada
Description: Potable water use in Canada

Potable water use in Canada

Litres per capita per day (LPCD)

Total average daily per capita potable water use in Canada

  • Industrial (manufacturing)
  • Commercial (office buildings, shopping centres, restaurants, etc.)
  • Residential
  • Institutional and other non-residential (Schools, hospitals, municipal/provincial/federal facilities)
  • Losses from the distribution system (water system maintenance, leaks, other water losses)
Total LPCD in the economy
Year Litres per capita per day
2011 485
2013 460
2015 446
2017 427

Residential average daily per capita potable water use in Canada

  • Drinking and food preparation
  • Bathing and showering
  • Brushing teeth
  • Flushing toilets
  • Washing hands
  • Washing clothes
  • Washing dishes
  • Washing floors etc.
  • Washing cars and other items
  • Watering lawns and gardens during warmer months
  • Maintaining pools and hot tubs
  • Other miscellaneous (watering indoor plants, aquariums, etc.)
  • Humidifiers
  • Leaky fixtures and pipes
  • Running water to prevent lines from freezing in winter
Residential LPCD
Year Litres per capita per day
2011 251
2013 222
2015 234
2017 220

Source: Statistics Canada, Environment, Energy and Transportation Statistics Division, Biennial Drinking Water Plants Survey.

Results are based on drinking water treatment plants that draw and process source/raw water from the environment to produce treated/potable water for consumption, serving 300 or more people.

Total LPCD = total average daily per capita potable water use in Canada.

Residential LPCD = residential average daily per capita potable water use in Canada

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Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2019

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

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