Someone on Cix was surprised by a water bill which he calculated meant he was using 200 pints of water a day.

Picturing a pint is not difficult – we can see it in terms of beer or milk.  But tell someone they have a 210 litre hot water tank or that a washing machine uses 60 litres of water per wash, and they flounder a bit.

Here are some handy comparisons:

1 litre = 2 pints

10 litres = a toilet flush = bucket of water

A power shower is using the equivalent of having a bucket of water thrown over you every thirty seconds.  So if you wallow under the hot water every morning, and you have a powerful shower, you may actually be using far more water than if you had a bath.
60 litres = a washing machine cycle = a water butt

240 litres = a wheelie bin = (roughly) a modern hot water tank

Any more?  UMRA will be particularly interested in sightings of unorthodox units like “swimming-pools per minute” and so on.