A water-saving experiment got some LA homes to use half as much as their neighbors

At a single-family home in the L.A. suburb of Canoga Park, installers are parading in and out of Jake Olson and Amy Ball’s house, tossing anything that uses water, and installing brand new fixtures.

Olson applied to be part of a pilot project after seeing an ad in a utility newsletter. His is one of 30 homes in Los Angeles chosen for the project. Half stay the same. The other half get free, brand new water-efficient appliances, faucets, showerheads and toilets, plus detergents and cleaning supplies optimized for low water use. In exchange, Olson has released full access to his household’s water usage data.

“I was in an apartment for 17 years and didn’t have a water bill. They paid the water and then we got this house and we were watering grass and water bills would come and I was like, ‘Wow, how is this reality? What is this life? I do not want this,'” he said.

The people looking at his data are part of an international coalition of companies, water agencies and nonprofits called 50L Home. And they have a bold claim: It’s possible to reduce water consumption to just 13 gallons per day — or 50 liters — and not feel like you’re sacrificing anything.

“We’re doing behavioral analysis, we’re looking at every end use. We’re in their homes kind of on a regular basis,” said project manager Maureen Erbeznik with the United States Green Building Council California.

The World Health Organization says each person needs a minimum of 13 gallons of water a day to meet basic needs such as drinking, bathing, washing dishes and cleaning clothes. But the average American uses more than 80 gallons of water per day. In many parts of the country, that’s simply unsustainable.

Since this project is all about seeing how little water a typical family can use while behaving typically, Ball and Olson were under strict orders not to try harder to save water. They were already trying pretty hard. They replaced their lawn with drought tolerant plants, they try to only run the dishwasher when it’s full. Although, Ball admits she tends to “luxuriate” in the shower.

“I like to turn up the heat really hot and just be in there,” she said. Olson said that with a toddler in the house, some of the only alone time they get is while showering.

One year later, the homes in the study used half as much water as the average home in Los Angeles. Olson did notice some differences in the appliances. But he said none of them were bad.

“The showerhead itself is actually two inches larger than the one that we had before. And honestly, that’s one of my favorite things that got swapped out. The water pressure is the same, if not better,” Olson said.

But that reduction still wasn’t enough to hit that 13-gallon mark. After a year, they were using about 23 gallons per person.

“Our name is definitely aspirational. There’s a lot more savings to be had. We are just getting started,” said Gregory Holliday, director of 50L Home. “We didn’t tell anybody about how to use these products. We didn’t encourage them to try to save water.”

Holliday said this study isn’t over yet. In phase two, it will introduce recycling water to get that usage number down even more.