You can monitor your water usage by checking your meter periodically.
First, locate your meter. It is typically somewhere near where your driveway leaves the ranch road, but it may be somewhere completely different depending on the distance from your house to the nearest water line. While you are at it, find the water shut off valve for your line in case of emergency. If you can’t find it, contact David Blouin for help.
Once you find the meter and pry the cover off (look out for spiders and such), you’ll see something like the photo.
The current reading is 319190 gallons. The red dial indicates an additional 1.4 gallons, but you can safely ignore it. If the red “star” is twirling, it means you currently have water running. The reading is the number of gallons used by your meter since it was installed. Given that the meters on the ranch were installed over an extended period, comparing the total readings isn’t a useful way of determining relative use.
You can get your usage by subtracting the previous reading from the current. The reading 33 days prior was 308650, so I’ve used 10,540 gallons in a bit over a month. That translates to 319 gal/day, a bit above my average of 310 gal/day. By comparison, the City of Tucson gives average use for a 2-person household as 175-300 gal/day (depending on season).