Average Water Consumption per Person in Figures

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How much water does a Dutch person use per day?

Since June 2026 the Rijksoverheid has used 118 litres per person per day. That figure has fallen from 125 litres, and the government's target is a maximum of 100 litres per person per day, a saving of 20 per cent. The water company Vitens arrives at 119.5 litres per person per day in its own measurement and names the same target of 100 litres.

The most detailed measurement comes from the CBS (Statistics Netherlands), which in its Watergebruik Thuis 2021 study arrived at 129 litres per person per day and 275 litres per household per day. That figure is slightly older and therefore slightly higher, but it is the only source that breaks consumption down completely. In this article we therefore use the 118 litres for the current level and the CBS figures for the breakdown.

At PureFilter we see that these two figures often get mixed up in conversations with customers. The difference is simple: the more recent the measurement, the lower the consumption, because the Netherlands has been using slightly less water per person for years.

Water consumption by household size, per day and per year

The average says little without your household size. The more people under one roof, the lower the consumption per person: a washing machine runs almost as full for two people as for one, and a household shares the same pipes. The CBS measured it like this:

Source: CBS, Watergebruik Thuis 2021. The cubic metres have been converted from that over a full year. Brabant Water (a Dutch water company) uses comparable ranges on its own page about average water use.

Someone who lives alone therefore uses well over one and a half times as much water per person as someone in a family of four. That feels unfair on the annual bill, but it is logical: the fixed charge and the basic actions in the home are shared with nobody. If you want to know what those cubic metres mean, also read how much a cubic metre of water actually is.

Where does all that water go?

This is where it gets surprising. Of the 129 litres the CBS measured, by far the largest share goes to the bathroom, and only a wafer-thin layer goes to your glass.

The shower is the biggest user

According to the CBS, your shower runs at an average of 7.7 litres per minute, and an average shower lasts 7.4 minutes and so uses 56.9 litres. Showering two minutes less therefore saves about 15 litres each time, every single day. No other measure in the home delivers as much.

The toilet is the second

The toilet takes 30.2 litres per person per day. That is about 2.93 full flushes of 6.7 litres and 3.65 half flushes of 3.7 litres. By now 78 per cent of Dutch people have a toilet with a water-saving button, and that button is literally the cheapest saving in the home.

The washing machine runs on almost 49 litres

According to the CBS, a wash costs almost 49 litres, which works out at 17 litres per person per day. A full drum instead of a half-full one is the entire gain here: the water per wash hardly changes with how full the drum is.

The part you actually drink: 2.6 litres

Of everything that passes through your water meter, according to the CBS only 2.6 litres per person per day actually ends up in your body or in your pan. That is made up of 4.62 cups of 0.2 litres, 1.1 litres in total, plus 1.5 litres for cooking in small, medium and large pans. People aged 65 and over drink an average of 6.32 cups per day, so for them the figure is slightly higher.

About 2 per cent of your water consumption goes down your throat. The other 98 per cent disappears down the drain, the toilet or the drum. That is exactly why the distinction between water consumption and water quality is worth making: you pay for 43 cubic metres per year, but you taste less than one of them.

How much you should drink per day is, by the way, a different question from how much you drink. For that we have a separate explanation of how much water you need per day, with a rule of thumb based on body weight.

What does that water consumption cost on your annual bill?

Your water bill consists of three parts: a fixed amount, a price per cubic metre and the tax on tap water. At Vitens in 2026 you pay €1.34 per cubic metre including 9 per cent VAT, plus €56.68 fixed charge per year. On top of that comes the tax on tap water of €0.477 per cubic metre. Together that is about €1.82 per cubic metre, or per thousand litres.

These are indications based on the Vitens rates for 2026 and the CBS consumption figures; your own water company and your own behaviour determine the real amount. A full breakdown of the bill is in our blog on what a cubic metre of water costs exactly.

If you calculate the drinking share separately, the proportion becomes funny: 2.6 litres per person per day is 0.95 cubic metres per year. For a two-person household, all the water you actually drink and cook with therefore costs under four euros a year. The rest of your bill is bathroom and laundry.

Saving water: what works and what does not

The government wants households to get down to 100 litres per person per day. That means around 18 litres less per person per day, and almost all of those are in the bathroom.

• Shorter showers: two minutes less saves around 15 litres per shower. This is by far the biggest lever you control yourself.
• Water-saving shower head: brings the flow down from 7.7 litres per minute to 6 litres or less.
• Using the water-saving button: a half flush is 3.7 litres instead of 6.7 litres.
• A full washing machine: the water per wash stays almost the same, so half-full drums mean paying twice.
• A dripping tap or a toilet that keeps running: check your meter reading before going to bed and the next morning without using any water. If it is higher, something is leaking.

And what does not work: filtering. A water filter does not save a single drop of water. It does not change how much runs through your meter, only what is in your glass. If you want to save water, you need to be at the shower, not at the kitchen tap.

Tap water, filtered tap water and bottled water

Once you know you only drink 2.6 litres per day, the question of what you do with those 2.6 litres becomes more interesting. Three routes side by side:

We have worked out the comparison with bottles in more detail in the blog on tap water versus bottled water. If you want to see which filter types exist and what they do, take a look at which type of water filter suits your situation, or browse water filters that fit your household size.

What a water filter does and does not do

Dutch tap water is of high quality and is strictly monitored by your water company. A filter is therefore not a necessity, but a choice for taste and for the small share that you drink.

What the PureFilter Mineral+ does

• Filters all 40 tested chemical substances, from 75 per cent to 99.97 per cent, tested by Equinox Labs, independent laboratory (2026).
• Brings lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium back to below the detection limit.
• Adds calcium, magnesium and potassium via Swedish Mineral Rock™ as the final step.
• Sits invisibly under the sink on the cold water line, also next to a Quooker (a Dutch boiling-water tap).

What it does not do

• It does not save water. Your consumption stays exactly the same.
• It is not a water softener. Limescale in your kettle and on your shower wall stays, because the hardness does not change. How hard the water is where you live, you can read in our blog on hard water in the Netherlands.
• It does not disinfect. The filter makes the water better and tastier, but it is not a substitute for a boil-water notice.

Connecting it takes 5 to 10 minutes and you do not need a plumber; the steps are in our guide to installing a water filter. If you are torn between brands and types, our overview of the best water filter will help you further. The replacement filter costs €65.00 on its own, the duo €115.00, and if you do not want to think about it, it can also go through the Filter Plan for €48.00 a year for 1 to 3 people. How often that is needed, you can read at how often you replace a water filter.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

The average water consumption per person in the Netherlands is about 118 litres per day, around 43 cubic metres per year. If you live alone, you are higher: the CBS measured 186 litres per person per day in one-person households against 96 litres in households of five or more. Your annual bill therefore runs from about €180 for someone living alone to about €353 for a family of four.

The most striking figure is the smallest. Of everything you use, 2.6 litres per day actually goes down your throat or into the pan, about 2 per cent. Saving water is therefore done in the bathroom, and you decide on the taste of your water at the kitchen tap. Those are two different dials, and there is little point in mixing them up.

If you want to make that small share tastier and cleaner, a filter under the sink is the simplest route. You can read more about the brand and the warranty at purefilter.nl, and practical questions about installation and maintenance are covered in the frequently asked questions.