iN NUMBERS: Kamloops, Okanagan water use more than doubles national average

The Southern Interior drought has left us parched, and that’s not a condition we are used to despite being in one of the driest regions in the country.

We’re used to using water, and lots of it; the typical family uses more than twice as much as the Canadian average. Water authorities have warned us for years this could happen, now most of us can’t aren’t supposed to use anything but a hand wand in the garden.

Here are the numbers on our water use:

• 1,032: Average annual litres per day used for all Okanagan households, according to the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

• 38: Per cent of that water is used indoors.

• 825: Average annual litres per day for Kamloops households, according to the City of Kamloops.

• 1,800: Litres of daily household water use on a summer day in Kamloops.

• 326: Litres used daily by the average Canadian househould.

• 70: Per cent of annual Okanagan water demand going toward agriculture.

• 21: Per cent of annual Okanagan water demand for residential homes, with more than half used outdoors.

• 820: Annual litres per day for households in Yakima, Washington, which is similar in size and climate to Kelowna.

• 48: Per cent reduction of water use in Vernon after severe restrictions were put in place this summer.

• 0.5: Millimetres of rain Environment Canada recorded in Kelowna since July 1.