How many typical residences does an *’ water main supply?

Our City has recently installed an 8′ water main to supply solely a 9 hole golf course w/small clubhouse. Isn’t the sizing of this main unduly large for such a small usage?

EDITED
If there are a few fire hydrants on it and there are also projected future demands on the line, no, 8″ may not be too large. Usually the golf course goes in first and the houses follow. Then comes the WalMart with a sprinkler system.
In Tennessee we got the County to mandate nothing smaller than a 6″ for new housing developments. This was principally for projected residential fire fighting needs.
City of Tulas, Ok – “The water industry estimates that an average person uses 3,000 gallons of water monthly – -. But a lot of factors come into play – -” (You can say that again.)
This converts to 100 gallons day or 4 gph. The problem with this is that the actual usage is mostly during a few active hours and can vary widely during the daily activities. It will depend on the time of year with summer usage being higher.
The golf course watering and any other commercial needs would be added to the residential demand.
The pipeline and the pumps and storage tanks must be sized
to accommodate the anticipated peak demand, not the average and the needed flows for firefighting are to be superimposed.
Another consideration is that a residual minimum pressure must be maintained in the water mains when there is a high (fire) flow coincident with the peak residential and commercial demand. A larger main would have less pressure drop.
The City planners should be able to show you their utility projections for the area around the golf course.

KJZZ / BCC: Golf Course Use vs. Personal Water Consumption

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