Each person in Europe on the average uses 250,000 gallons of water a year.
Each person in US on the average uses 500,000 gallons of water a year.

That's because we do not live like people in Europe live. Europe is apartment world. There are no green grass front yards, nor green grass back yards that Europeans water. When many Europeans come out their front door they are standing in the hall way of an apartment building, or directly on the city sidewalk, except for the few that live on a farm in the country. I for one am glad to take and USE my 500,000 gallons, it makes life very enjoyable. - Millet

Roughly, Californians uses an average of 300,000 gallons of water per person per year. People in Idaho utilize close to a million gallons of water per person. The US national average is 500,000 gallons/person/year/

Similarly, Californians are not only more efficient in using water than more than half of the other states, but also consume just half the amount of electricity per household compared to the national average.

If we rank oil consumption of China, US, the rest of the world, and include California in the mix, California would rank third largest consumer of oil in the world. This means that California alone surpasses the oil consumption of each of the individiual countries excepting China and US (excluding Ca), even higher than Canada and Australia.

Joe, grass yards alone comsume a lot of water, but also probide a lot of benefit. I don't know how much water I consume, but it would surely be GREATLY IN EXCESS of a million gallons of water, due to being a farm. But then no water used, no food grown, no food grown, no people alive. - Millet

Millet, I agree with you about the grass, also its benefits if used to raised farm animals.

BUT, the lawn grasses, especially those of the golf courses for our CEO's, managers and the ritzi folks who think they are the only ones who can have life, those grasses, are THE WORST ECOLOGICAL DISASTER that has ever been invented. Maintaining those grasses so that they look green and purty, has resulted in the greatest amount of fertilizer and pesticide pollution, exceeding that of Agriculture. Individual household lawns and grasses are unregulated, practically we bombard the lawn with anything we've got and there's no limit to make them pretty. The amount of water to keep them green, the continuous removal of nutrients via mowing and fertilizing cycles.... And if you use single piston or two stroke stye lawnmower, an hour of of lawn mowing will produce the equivalent NOx pollution of 100,000 mile trip of today's recent cars.

And I have more area planted to lawn grass than to fruit trees and other ornamentals. Oh the price of vanity...

I am not a golfer, so I don't use golf courses, but I appreciate both golf courses, and private lawns. I think they add a lot to the neighborhood. What is actually taking place, is that more and more of America is buried under cement and asphalt every day. What we need is more green parks, golf courses, green belts, public gardens, landscaping of industry, beautifying of highways and so on. The vast majority of people who play golf are not all CEO but just average Joe's (excuse the pun). I see nothing wrong with having the greenest grass in the neighborhood. What I don't like is people who do not take care of their lawns and landscaping.. I much prefer using a power lawn mower than a push mower. The number one most import item in the world is - people. Take care my friend, and enjoy life. - Millet

I agree but these are ecologically unbalanced with pavement worse than lawns. There are better alternative to typical grass lawn. I am glad that there are movements among ecologists to restore some ecological diversity and keep the beauty of golf courses. It add challenges to the course, but it can function with some habitat oasis for wildlife, and integrated pest management to manage inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers.

The new push here in Southern California is for artificial lawns that don't use any water. My water district is actually offering a $1 per square foot rebate to replace your lawn with artificial turf. One of our neighbors put it in and it looks good, but almost too good. They need a dog to decorate the yard to make it more realistic. Maybe a gopher mound while they're at it. I'm curious how detrimental to the environment the manufacturing process of the artificial lawns is. You could also probably make an argument that once the design life of the artificial turf is up, it will be ripped up and thrown into a landfill where it has a 200 year time frame to decompose.

Personally, being in the water industry, I work with water statistics every day. In Ramona (where I work) the amount of water used to irrigate is roughly 4 feet per year (4 feet per unit surface area). Each home uses on average 554 gallons per day and generates 200 gallons per day of sewage. After doing many planning projects, you also notice statistical trends. Low income residents use a lot less water than the affluent. If you declare emergency water conservation measures, people on average will conserve water for about 7 days before their daffodils become more important than whether their neighbor has adequate water for proper sanitation.

As far as water as a resource and conserving it, I don't like waste of any type, but I see A LOT of potential coming out of the membrane technology sector. The cost to desalinate sea water or brackish water is now competitive with imported water here in Southern California. However, it faces the same problems that every good thing faces. The heavy element Governmentium and their incumbent morons (and respective constituency) who are dumber than a mud fence on a rainy day. With all that being said, if desalination becomes a reality, I see water along the coastal areas becoming a renewable resource and if people want to waste it, as long as they pay for it, the Pacific Ocean isn't going dry anytime soon. On the downside, the folks that live in inland states don't have the same luxary and aren't accustomed to paying what we pay for water here in California which makes desalination competitive with importing water from Millet's farm.

Phillip