orer houses generally had one bath-tub and
one water-closet, the amount of water used being eight and a half
gallons per head per day, while the most expensive house in the city
used twenty-six gallons per head per day. In Boston, the poorest class
apartment houses used water at the rate of seventeen gallons per head
per day, the moderate class apartment houses at the rate of thirty-two
gallons, first-class apartment houses at the rate of forty-six gallons,
and the highest class apartment houses at the rate of fifty-nine gallons
per head per day. The difference in these rates is easily understood by
considering the habits of the individuals who make up the different
classes referred to. In the poorer class of houses, the workers of the
family are gone all day, and are too tired when home to spend much time
in bathing. The children of such households are washed only
occasionally, and the external use of water is generally regarded as an
unnecessary trouble. In those families, on the other hand, where the
necessity for daily toil is not so pressing, where bathing is more
frequent, and where ablutions during the day are more often repeated,
the amount of water used is much larger.

Another factor that affects the measured amount of water used in a
family is the number of plumbing fixtures. At first sight, it would not
seem possible that because there were two wash-basins in a house, an
individual should use more water than if there were only one basin. Nor
would it seem possible that an individual would take more baths with
three bath-rooms available than if only one existed, and yet the number
of fixtures does influence the individual who washes his hands
frequently. With a wash-basin on the same floor, for instance, he washes
often, whereas if it were always necessary to go upstairs for the
purpose, his hands would go unwashed. Also, the more fixtures there
are, the greater is the amount of leakage, since every faucet will, in
the course of time, begin to leak unless the packing is continually
replaced. The amount of leakage is, therefore, in direct proportion to
the number of fixtures.

The amount of water used then, per head per day, varies from seven to
sixty gallons, but only by an intimate knowledge of the habits of the
household can one predict the amount of water likely to be used. Perhaps
as an average in a house having a kitchen sink and a bath-room
containing a wash-basin, bath-tub, and water-closet, a fair es