Drip Faucet Calculator — Water Waste from a Leaking Tap
Count how many drips your faucet releases per minute and find out exactly how many litres (and gallons) are lost each day, each month and each year — plus the estimated cost at your water tariff.
per 1000 L
From all dripping faucets combined
- 1
Total drips per minute
10 × 1 = 10 - 2
mL wasted per day
10 × 0.05 × 1,440 = 720One drip ≈ 0.05 mL (USGS standard); 1440 minutes per day. - 3
Litres wasted per day
720 ÷ 1,000 = 0.72
How does this calculator work?
One standard drip = 0.05 mL (USGS). Daily waste = drips/min × 0.05 mL × 1440 ÷ 1000 litres. A 10-drip/min leak wastes ~43 L/day and ~15,700 L/year. Enter your water tariff (per 1000 L) to get an annual cost estimate.
Formula
How this is calculated
Each drip from a faucet delivers roughly 0.05 mL of water — a figure established by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and widely used in plumbing and water-conservation studies. Multiplying the drip rate (drips per minute) by that volume and by the number of minutes in a day (1440) gives the daily loss in millilitres, which the calculator converts to litres and US gallons (1 US gallon = 3.785 litres).
The annual figure is simply the daily loss scaled to 365 days, and the cost estimate divides total litres by 1000 and multiplies by your water tariff (entered as cost per 1000 litres, the standard billing unit in most countries). If you have more than one dripping tap, enter the count and the combined loss is calculated.
A faucet releasing 10 drips per minute wastes about 43 litres (11 US gallons) per day — enough to fill a bathtub in under three weeks. A medium leak at 30 drips/min loses roughly 130 litres daily, and a fast continuous-flow leak at 120 drips/min wastes over 500 litres per day. The annual AreaCurve shows how quickly a small daily loss accumulates into a large total over the year.
Frequently asked questions
Count the number of drips from the faucet in exactly 60 seconds and enter that number. Alternatively, count for 10 seconds and multiply by 6. A slow, visible drip is typically 1–10 drips/min; a fast drip is 30–60 drips/min; a thin but steady stream can be 100+ drips/min.
The USGS defines one standard drip as approximately 0.05 mL (1/20th of a teaspoon). Real drip size varies with water pressure and the faucet washer condition, but 0.05 mL is the accepted benchmark for conservation estimates.
At 10 drips per minute and a water cost of $2.50 per 1000 litres (typical in many cities), the annual loss is roughly 15,767 litres, costing about $39. Enter your local tariff in the cost field to get an accurate figure for your situation.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Drip Faucet Calculator — Water Waste from a Leaking Tap [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/drip-faucet-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Drip Faucet Calculator — Water Waste from a Leaking Tap." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/drip-faucet-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Drip Faucet Calculator — Water Waste from a Leaking Tap," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/drip-faucet-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_drip_faucet_calculator, title = {Drip Faucet Calculator — Water Waste from a Leaking Tap}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/drip-faucet-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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