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Writer's picturemadmysha

Why is a unit of water 748 gallons?

Guess what? I didn't use a full unit of water this past month. I know this because a water company employee came out to inform me there was something wrong with my meter because I didn't use any water this month.


Now, I know I only use about one unit a month, every so often I have a month where I use two units because the 1.2 and 1.4 months finally caught up to push my usage over that second unit line. I also know I was being charged the "average household usage" (10 units!) for the first year at my new address because that's just how they figure things... Long story short, I got a bucket and filled it with water to prove to the guys my meter wasn't broken, I just conserve water and don't use that much!


These two men were absolutely shocked I hadn't used 748 gallons of water in the past month... I assured them it was pretty normal for me to have low usage, and I also had a bit of time to think about this seemingly arbitrary number and start to wonder, why is a unit of water 748 gallons? Doesn't that seem weird?


Well, spoiler alert, it isn't that weird. A CCF (centum cubic feet) or HCF (hundred cubic feet) unit is one hundred cubic feet of water... also equal to 748 gallons. So a 5 foot by 5 foot by 4 foot cube of water (100 cubic feet) has 748 gallons in it. Mystery solved.


Did you know the average American uses 80-100 gallons of water per day!? That's wild, someone out there must be using a BUNCH of water to offset me because my usage is far below that number! How much water does your household use?




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