Summary:

The paper presents the variability in tap water consumption in a 17-thousand poviat town located in the eastern part of the Lesser Poland voivodeship. The recipients were divided into households, industrial plants, service facilities along with other recipients. Based on the analysis conducted in a multi-year period of 2000-2012, with a decrease in the total water consumption by 15.0%, the water consumption indicators were determined in relation to one connection to the water supply network of individual water consumers. Their mean values were 0.744; 60,359 and 1.606 m3× d-1, respectively. During the study period the mentioned indicators decreased - by 31.2% in the case of households, by 43.8% for service facilities, while in the case of industrial plants they increased by 15.0%. The conversion water consumption per capita in households was also determined as an average of 82.96 dm3× d-1. This ratio decreased from 91.08 dm3× d-1 in 2000 to 79.57 dm3× d-1 in 2012 (reduction by 12.6%). In the structure of water consumption, households were the predominant users (52.0%) followed by industry (30.8%) while the remaining amount of water (17.2 %) was consumed by service facilities along with other recipients.