Abstract
Water scarcity is one of the world's fastest growing epidemics. Therefore, to combat it or mitigate the risks one must first understand how water is being consumed. This study focuses on the analysis of domestic water consumption with reference to how much of it is being consumed. Additionally, the study aims to propose an applicable and consistent method to forecast urban water consumption by using soft computing techniques. The investigation highlights the hourly, daily and monthly water consumption levels as well as the relationship between climate change and water demand using gene expression programming (GEP). The results of the study are relatively promising as it demonstrates that GEP can predict water consumption incorporating seasonal changes of wet and dry periods.
After introducing the indirect evaluation of urban water demand, which has been sometimes performed, this paper focus the attention on two complementary methods to overcome the accuracy problems on the planning process of water conservation programs: a detailed measurement of water consumption, reaching the identification and assessment of end uses of water, and the lab tests of water use devices. An application of both methods on a small Spanish town is presented as a case study.
Despite considerable public funding, Mexico City faces inadequate and inequitably distributed water infrastructure. Corruption in public fund management and at the interface between institutions and individuals is fed by opaque governing systems. Local actors agree that sustainable water management must begin with systemic changes to enable transparent and participative governance.
Water consumption forecasting using soft computing – a case study, Trinidad and Tobago