scholarly journals Classifying household water use into indoor and outdoor use from a rudimentary data set: a case study in Johannesburg, South Africa

Author(s):  
Bettina Elizabeth Meyer ◽  
Heinz Erasmus Jacobs ◽  
Adeshola Ilemobade

Abstract Distinguishing between indoor use and outdoor use is becoming increasingly important, especially in water-scarce regions, since outdoor use is typically targeted during water restrictions. Household water use is typically measured at a single water meter, and the resolution of the metered data is typically too coarse to employ on commercially available disaggregation software, such as flow trace analysis. This study is the first to classify end-use events from a rudimentary data set, into indoor use or outdoor use. This case study was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa, and quantified the volume of water used indoors and outdoors at 63 residential properties over 217 days. A recently developed model for classifying water use events as either indoor or outdoor, based on rudimentary water meter data, was employed in this study. A total of 212,060 single end-use events were classified as being either indoor or outdoor. The indoor and outdoor consumptions were compared with survey results. It was found that 30% of all events were outdoor, based on the total volume.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Du Plessis ◽  
B. Faasen ◽  
H. E. Jacobs ◽  
A. J. Knox ◽  
C. Loubser

Abstract Disaggregating residential water use into components for indoor and outdoor use is useful in view of water services planning and demand management campaigns, where outdoor use is often the target of water restrictions. Previous research has shown that individual end-use events can be identified based on analysis of the flow pattern at the water meter, but such studies are relatively complex and expensive. A basic method to disaggregate the indoor–outdoor water use would be useful. In addressing this problem, a technique was employed in this study to disaggregate indoor–outdoor water use based on knowledge of the wastewater flow, with assumptions that link indoor use to wastewater flow. A controlled study site in a gated community, with small bore sewers, was selected to allow certain assumptions to be validated. The results provide insight into the monthly indoor and outdoor water use of homes in the study area, and show how wastewater flow could be used to assess outdoor use. Outdoor use was found to represent up to 66% of the total household water use in January, accounting for ∼58% of the total annual water use in the study area 2016.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 499
Author(s):  
Salmatta Ibrahim A ◽  
Fayyaz Ali Memon ◽  
David Butler

Ensuring a sustainable urban water supply for developing/low-income countries requires an understanding of the factors affecting water consumption and technical evidence of individual consumption which can be used to design an improved water demand projection. This paper compared dry and rainy season water sources available for consumption and the end-use volume by each person in the different income groups. The study used a questionnaire survey to gather household data for a total of 398 households, which was analysed to develop the relationship between per capita water consumption characteristics: Socio-economic status, demographics, water use behaviour around indoor and outdoor water use activities. In the per capita water consumption patterns of Freetown, a seasonal variation was found: In the rainy season, per capita water consumption was found to be about 7% higher than the consumption for the full sample, whilst in the dry season, per capita water consumption was almost 14% lower than the full survey. The statistical analysis of the data shows that the average per capita water consumption for both households increases with income for informal slum-, low-, middle- and high-income households without piped connection (73, 78, 94 and 112 L/capita/day) and with connection (91, 97, 113 and 133 L/capita/day), respectively. The collected data have been used to develop 20 statistical models using the multiple linear stepwise regression method for selecting the best predictor variable from the data set. It can be seen from the values that the strongest significant relationships of per capita consumption are with the number of occupants (R = −0.728) in the household and time spent to fetch water for use (R = −0.711). Furthermore, the results reveal that the highest fraction of end use is showering (18%), then bathing (16%), followed by toilet use (14%). This is not in agreement with many developing countries where toilet use represents the largest component of indoor end use.


2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Elizabeth Meyer ◽  
Heinz Erasmus Jacobs ◽  
Adeshola Ilemobade

Abstract Household water end-uses have been extracted from high-resolution smart water meter data in various earlier studies. However, research on end-use disaggregation from rudimentary data is limited. Rudimentary data is defined as data recorded in intervals longer than 1 min, or data recorded with resolutions larger than 0.1 L/pulse. Developing countries typically deal with rudimentary data, due to the high cost and high resource investment associated with high-resolution data. The aim of this study was to extract useful event characteristics from rudimentary data, without identifying the actual end-uses per se. A case study was conducted in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa, where 63 homes were equipped with iPERL smart water meters. The meters recorded flow measurements every 15 s at a 1 L/pulse resolution, rendering the recorded data rudimentary. A total of 1,107,547 event pulses were extracted over the 217-day study period. Although the method presented is limited in the sense that water use events cannot be identified, the method allows for disaggregation of event pulses in the presence of rudimentary data. Using this tool, it is possible to lift valuable information from rudimentary data that would subsequently benefit service providers in setting water demand strategies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 4869-4900 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Cahill ◽  
J. R. Lund ◽  
B. DeOreo ◽  
J. Medellín-Azuara

Abstract. The increased availability of water end use measurement studies allows for more mechanistic and detailed approaches to estimating household water demand and conservation potential. This study uses, probability distributions for parameters affecting water use estimated from end use studies and randomly sampled in Monte Carlo iterations to simulate water use in a single-family residential neighborhood. This model represents existing conditions and is calibrated to metered data. A two-stage mixed integer optimization model is then developed to estimate the least-cost combination of long- and short-term conservation actions for each household. This least-cost conservation model provides an estimate of the upper bound of reasonable conservation potential for varying pricing and rebate conditions. The models were adapted from previous work in Jordan and are applied to a neighborhood in San Ramon, California in eastern San Francisco Bay Area. The existing conditions model produces seasonal use results very close to the metered data. The least-cost conservation model suggests clothes washer rebates are among most cost-effective rebate programs for indoor uses. Retrofit of faucets and toilets is also cost effective and holds the highest potential for water savings from indoor uses. This mechanistic modeling approach can improve understanding of water demand and estimate cost-effectiveness of water conservation programs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 147 (12) ◽  
pp. 04021079
Author(s):  
Bettina E. Meyer ◽  
Khoi Nguyen ◽  
Cara D. Beal ◽  
Heinz E. Jacobs ◽  
Steven G. Buchberger

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan J. Cole ◽  
Richard M. Bailey ◽  
James D.S. JCullis ◽  
Mark G. New

Water is fundamental to human well-being and economic growth. Measuring how water contributes to sustainable development is an important aspect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, ‘Water and sanitation for all’. This importance is especially significant for water-scarce developing countries such as South Africa. Appropriate indicators can support decision-making and highlight key issues on inequality, unemployment and sustainability. In this paper, additional indicators for SDG 6.4 on water-use efficiency are proposed that focus on how individuals and households benefit, both directly and indirectly, from the allocations and use of water resources. The Berg Water Management Area (WMA) in the southwest corner of South Africa is used as a case study to illustrate the results. Residential per capita water use and municipal water losses were determined for all towns in the area. Figures for jobs and income per unit of water use were calculated for the heavily water-dependent industries, namely, agriculture, agriprocessing, freshwater aquaculture, mining and steel processing. This approach to measuring the socio-economic benefits of water use are relevant for other countries seeking to measure the role that water plays in achieving inclusive sustainable development, and could be included in the final SDG 6 indicator suite.


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