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The average monthly consumption per meter per day in 2019 was 355 litres which was 3.8% lower than in 2018.
The median monthly consumption per meter per day in 2019 was 257 litres which was slightly higher than in 2018.
The highest decile, or 10% of metered households, accounted for 36% of total metered public water consumption in 2019.
Average domestic monthly consumption was highest in July 2019 at 364 litres per meter per day which was just above the May figure of 362 litres per meter per day.
Donegal had the lowest average consumption in 2019 at 307 litres per meter per day, while Offaly had the highest at 405 litres.
The CSO receives actual meter readings from Irish Water for households that are connected to the metered public water supply. The CSO converts the meter readings to monthly figures by calculating the daily consumption between two meter readings. Only meters with all days for a month are included in this release e.g. if the latest reading for a meter was on 28th December then the meter would not be included in the December data. The figures include water leaks on the household side of the meter.
Table A and Figure 1 show the average and median monthly consumption in litres per meter per day for 2014-2019.
| Table A: Monthly Mean and Monthly Median 2014-2019 | |||
| Year | Average (Litres per meter per day) | Median (Litres per meter per day) | Median as % of Mean |
| 2014 | 386 | 256 | 66% |
| 2015 | 379 | 244 | 64% |
| 2016 | 368 | 247 | 67% |
| 2017 | 375 | 253 | 67% |
| 2018 | 369 | 256 | 69% |
| 2019 | 355 | 257 | 72% |
| Average | Median | |
| 2014 | 386 | 256 |
| 2015 | 379 | 244 |
| 2016 | 368 | 247 |
| 2017 | 375 | 253 |
| 2018 | 369 | 256 |
| 2019 | 355 | 257 |
Figure 2 presents average consumption in litres per meter per day by decile for 2018 and 2019.
| 2018 | 2019 | |
| 1st | 39 | 40 |
| 2nd | 108 | 109 |
| 3rd | 159 | 159 |
| 4th | 202 | 202 |
| 5th | 244 | 244 |
| 6th | 287 | 287 |
| 7th | 337 | 336 |
| 8th | 400 | 398 |
| 9th | 503 | 497 |
| 10th | 1410 | 1283 |
| Total | 369 | 355 |
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Statistician's Comment
Linh Nolan, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division of the CSO, noted:
"The average monthly consumption per meter per day in 2019 was 355 litres which was 3.8% lower than the 2018 figure of 369 litres (see Table A and Figure 1).
In 2019, the average consumption per month varied from 348 litres per meter per day in October to 364 litres per meter per day in July (see Table 1).
The highest decile, or 10% of metered households, accounted for 36% of total consumption and had an average consumption of 1,283 litres per meter per day in 2019 (see Figure 2 and Table 2). The average for this decile has decreased by 22% from 1,652 litres per meter per day in 2015.
The median consumption per meter per day in 2019 of 257 litres was 0.4% higher than in 2018 (see Table A and Figure 1). The monthly median varied from 250 litres per meter per day in October to 265 litres per meter per day in May (see Table 1). Median consumption reflects typical levels of consumption more than average consumption as the median is less affected by meters with very high levels of water consumption due to leaks.
Table 3A shows the average monthly consumption per meter per day by county. Donegal had the lowest average consumption in 2019 at 307 litres compared with Offaly which had the highest annual average of 405 litres. The corresponding medians are given in Table 3B. Meath had the highest median consumption in 2019 with 290 litres per meter per day while Leitrim had the lowest at 210 litres per meter per day.
Table 4A shows the average monthly consumption per meter per day by Dublin postal district. Dublin 5 and Dublin 20 had the lowest average consumption at 287 litres per meter per day in 2019. Median consumption for the Dublin postal districts are provided in Table 4B.
Table 5A shows the annual average metered consumption for 2016 to 2019. All counties except Cavan and Monaghan had a lower average consumption in 2019 compared with 2018. Table 6A shows that all Dublin postal districts used less water on average in 2019 than in 2018."