scholarly journals What does rebounding water use look like? An examination of post-drought and post-flood water end-use demand in Queensland, Australia

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Beal ◽  
A. Makki ◽  
R. A. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
End Use ◽  
Capacity Data ◽  
Residential Water

Rebounding water use behaviour has been observed in communities that have experienced plentiful water supply following a very dry period. However, the drivers of such rebounds in water consumption are varied and not well understood. Knowledge of such drivers can greatly assist managers towards proactive demand management, modelling and timely promotion of water efficient behaviours. Total and end-use residential water consumption has been tracked in South East Queensland, Australia for a sample of up to 252 homes in post-drought conditions (dam supplies growing but water restrictions continued, changed water use behaviours still ‘fresh’), and during and post-flooding conditions (eased restrictions, 100% dam capacity). Data on end-use water consumption trends using nearly 3 years of residential water end-use data have revealed several interesting patterns of consumption such as a delayed return to pre-drought use, the influence of climate and end-use specific rebounds (e.g. indoor versus outdoor use). The end-use data have helped to identify the drivers of rebounding water consumption which appear to include environmental cues (rainfall, temperature), social cues (e.g. government encouraging consumers to turn on tap) and a gradual general reduction in conservative water use behaviours. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this knowledge can be used to inform long-term demand management policy, particularly in variable climates.

scholarly journals Using smart meters to identify social and technological impacts on residential water consumption

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 527-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara Beal ◽  
Rodney A. Stewart ◽  
Anneliese Spinks ◽  
Kelly Fielding
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
High Water ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Smart Meters ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
End Use ◽  
Demographic Surveys

Studies have shown that householders' perceptions of their water use are often not well matched with their actual water use. There has been less research, however, investigating whether this bias is related to specific types of end use and/or specific types of socio-demographic and socio-demographic household profiles. A high resolution smart metering study producing a detailed end use event registry as well as psycho-social and socio-demographic surveys, stock inventory audits and self-reported water diaries was completed for 250 households located in South-east Queensland, Australia. The study examined the contributions of end uses to total water use for each group identified as ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’ water users. Analyses were conducted to examine the socio-demographic variables such as income, percentage of water efficient stock, family size and composition, that characterise each self-identified water usage group. The paper concludes with a discussion of the general characteristics of groups that overestimate and underestimate their water use and how this knowledge can be used to inform demand management policy such as targeted community education programmes.

scholarly journals Historical Self-Comparison of Water Consumption as a Water Demand Management Tool

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurina Otaki ◽  
Hidehito Honda ◽  
Kazuhiro Ueda
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Droplets ◽  
Presentation Methods ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

This study aimed to identify effective presentation methods used for historical self-comparisons of residential water consumption that will lead to the efficient use of water. To compare each household’s current and previous water consumption, illustrations of water droplets were used as feedback every other week for five months, with the number of water droplets indicating an increase or decrease in water consumption. When only using the same blue water droplets, there was no change in water consumption. However, when using yellow and red droplets in cases of increased water use, we observed that water consumption declined. By improving the method of communication, historical self-comparisons of water consumption can realize an efficient use of water at all consumption levels.

scholarly journals The socioeconomic determinants of sustainable residential water consumption in Athens: empirical results from a micro-econometric analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Kostakis
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Regression Equations ◽  
Residential Water Demand ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

AbstractThis paper provides empirical evidence on the effects of socioeconomic characteristics on residential water consumption. The case of Athens is taken as an example for the empirical investigation, using data from the 2019 Household Budget Survey. Employing ordinary, two- and three-stage least squares, seemingly unrelated regression equations and simultaneous quantile specifications, we found that residential water demand is highly price inelastic. Furthermore, empirical results show that water consumption is positively related to household age while more educated households and unemployed persons seem to follow more environmentally friendly behaviour with respect to water demand. Income, gender, house ownership and population density seem to insignificantly affect residential water demand. Our empirical findings might have important national and regional policy implications in the design of sustainable water demand management.

scholarly journals Enhancing Residential Water End Use Pattern Recognition Accuracy Using Self-Organizing Maps and K-Means Clustering Techniques: Autoflow v3.1

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ao Yang ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Rodney Stewart ◽  
Khoi Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Recognition ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Recognition Accuracy ◽  
Clustering Algorithms ◽  
Self Organizing Maps ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
End Use ◽  
Use Studies ◽  
Residential Water ◽  
Self Organizing

The aim of residential water end-use studies is to disaggregate water consumption into different water end-use categories (i.e., shower, toilet, etc.). The authors previously developed a beta application software (i.e., Autoflow v2.1) that provides an intelligent platform to autonomously categorize residential water consumption data and generate management analysis reports. However, the Autoflow v2.1 software water end use event recognition accuracy achieved was between 75 to 90%, which leaves room for improvement. In the present study, a new module augmented to the existing procedure improved flow disaggregation accuracy, which resulted in Autoflow v3.1. The new module applied self-organizing maps (SOM) and K-means clustering algorithms for undertaking an initial pre-grouping of water end-use events before the existing pattern recognition procedures were applied (i.e., ANN, HMM, etc.) For validation, a dataset consisting of over 100,000 events from 252 homes in Australia were employed to verify accuracy improvements derived from augmenting the new hybrid SOM and K-means algorithm techniques into the existing Autoflow v2.1 software. The water end use event categorization accuracy ranged from 86 to 94.2% for the enhanced model (Autoflow v3.1), which was a 1.7 to 9% improvement on event categorization.

scholarly journals The Effect of Social Behavior on Residential Water Consumption

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1184
Author(s):  
Daniel Morales Martínez ◽  
Alexandre Gori Maia
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Spatial Dependence ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Innovative Strategy ◽  
Peer Effect ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Household Water ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

We analyze how residential water consumption is influenced by the consumption of households belonging to the same social group (peer effect). Analyses are based on household-level data provided by the Brazilian Household Budget Survey and use an innovative strategy that estimates the spatial dependence of water consumption while simultaneously controlling for potential sources of sample selectivity and endogeneity. The estimates of our quantile regression models highlight that, conditional on household characteristics, the greater the household water consumption, the greater the peer effect. In other words, the overconsumption of residential water seems to be influenced mainly by the behavior of social peers.

scholarly journals Seasonal Variation of Rainy and Dry Season Per Capita Water Consumption in Freetown City Sierra Leone

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 499
Author(s):  
Salmatta Ibrahim A ◽  
Fayyaz Ali Memon ◽  
David Butler
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Predictor Variable ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
End Use

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.

scholarly journals Forecasting Residential Water Consumption in California: Rethinking Model Selection

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Buck ◽  
Maximilian Auffhammer ◽  
Hilary Soldati ◽  
David Sunding
Keyword(s):  
Model Selection ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

Developing a demand model integrating end uses of water (DMEUW): structure and process of integration

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Sarker ◽  
S. Gato-Trinidad
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Demand Model ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
End Use ◽  
Hypertext Markup Language ◽  
End Uses

The process of developing an integrated water demand model integrating end uses of water has been presented. The model estimates and forecasts average daily water demand based on the end-use pattern and trend of residential water consumption, daily rainfall and temperature, water restrictions and water conservation programmes. The end-use model uses the latest end-use data set collected from Yarra Valley Water, Australia. A computer interface has also been developed using hypertext markup language and hypertext pre-processor. The developed model can be used by water authorities and water resource planners in forecasting water demand and by household owners in determining household water consumption.

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