In 2019, households used 130 litres of drinking water per person per day, which is a total of 818 billion litres (=818 million m3). Companies used 386 billion litres of mains water (=386 million m3) that year. From 2003 to 2014, household drinking water consumption per inhabitant fell by almost 8 percent, from 138 to 127.5 litres per person per day. This decrease in water use was partly due to household appliances becoming more economical. After 2014, consumption increased again somewhat. In 2018 and 2019, more water was used than in previous years due to the relatively dry conditions. In recent years, water consumption has been erratic due to changing
weather conditions. In relatively dry summers, households used more drinking water for watering the garden or filling swimming pools. Companies used 386 million cubic metres of mains water in 2019, almost 3 million more than in 2018. Mains water consists of drinking waternoot1and industrial
water.noot2 A fifth of the total mains water consumption by companies was industrial water in 2019. Show datatableMains water consumption1 (million
m3)Hide datatableMains water consumption1 (million m3)
Mains water consumption1 (million m3)
| 815.4 | 316.8 | 69.8 |
| 796.2 | 302.8 | 69.6 |
| 790.5 | 295.5 | 70.8 |
| 800.7 | 297.3 | 70.7 |
| 789.4 | 298.8 | 71.0 |
| 788.4 | 304.8 | 69.5 |
| 788.1 | 304.6 | 74.2 |
| 786.2 | 303.4 | 80.4 |
| 781.8 | 298.6 | 81.3 |
| 783.0 | 287.4 | 78.0 |
| 785.3 | 290.7 | 84.2 |
| 783.3 | 284.6 | 83.5 |
| 793.7 | 287.0 | 79.2 |
| 805.3 | 290.0 | 83.9 |
| 808.3 | 293.1 | 79.7 |
| 837.2 | 302.8 | 80.6 |
| 818.4 | 309.2 | 76.5 |
| 1)Mains water consists of drinking water and industrial water. |
Less surface water used, but increase in 2019
Mains water is produced by water companies from surface and groundwater and, at 1.3 billion cubic metres, was a relatively small part of total water consumption. In total, 14.7 billion cubic metres were extracted from fresh or salt surface water and groundwater.
The extraction of surface water for the supply of drinking water, agriculture, energy provision and industry has decreased by 4 percent since 2003 to 13.5 billion in 2019. The decline is entirely due to fresh surface water, the use of which has decreased by 29 percent. In 2019, however, freshwater extraction increased by 5 percent compared to 2018.
Ever more salt water is being extracted for cooling purposes. Since 2003, its use has increased by 62 percent (mainly for energy provision). Cooling water is discharged into surface water following use, after which it can be reused, unlike irrigation water that evaporates or soaks into the soil. In 2019, agricultural water use was 77 percent higher than in 2017, but 15 percent lower than in 2018. More groundwater and surface water was used for irrigation in 2018 and 2019 than in previous years.
The questions
- How are figures calculated by CBS?
- How many dwellings in the Netherlands?
- How fast is the Dutch population growing?
- How tall are Dutch people?
- How many farm animals are there in the Netherlands?
- Which jobs often cause a poor work-life balance?
- How many diamond wedding couples are there?
- How much energy is from renewable sources?
- How many people fall victim to domestic violence?
- How many people use the Internet of Things?
- What are the major religions?
- What are the most popular majors?
- What do people die of on an average day?
- How much water do we consume?
- What do we buy online?
- How are the various animal species doing?
- How many under-23s receive youth assistance?
- Which flower bulbs are most common?
- How many companies in the Netherlands?
- Where do Caribbean Dutch children live?
- How do we use our land?
- How many electric cars are driving around?
- Which jobs have the highest levels of mental fatigue?
- How much nitrogen is emitted at livestock farms?
- How many workers belong to a trade union?
- How much have food prices gone up?
- Where were people in the Caribbean Netherlands originally born?
- How many families are at risk of poverty?
- How sustainable is our behaviour?
- What do we import from China?
- How many girls become teenage mothers?
- Has our purchasing power gone up or down?
- How many adults smoke?
- How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
- How many tourists stay overnight in the Netherlands?
- How does CBS handle your privacy?
Noten
Drinking water
Water intended or partly intended for drinking, cooking or preparing food or for other household purposes (with the exception of hot tap water), which is made available to consumers or other users through pipes (definition from the Drinking Water Act). This water complies with the drinking water quality requirements and is produced from groundwater or surface water by water companies.
Industrial water
Water of a different quality to drinking water that is used, for example, in refineries, the chemical and the metal industry. In many cases industrial water is produced and supplied by special industrial water companies, but also by industrial companies themselves. The data on industrial water are incomplete: in particular, CBS does not have a complete picture of deliveries between industrial companies.