Determinants of household water demand: a cross-sectional study in South West Nigeria

Estimating residential water demand in developing countries is complicated by the unique nature of water supply, characterised by unequal access and multiple water sources. Using cross-sectional data obtained from a survey of 1,300 households, the determinants of residential water demand were predicted using a multiple linear regression model. The determinants include access to water, household size, trip number, monthly income, payment for water, educational qualification, trip time and house type. The determinants predicted daily water consumption with an F(9, 1,014) = 81.063, P < 0.05, R2 = 0.450. Daily water consumption was found to be 2.8 times more per household and 4.4 times more per capita for those with on-site access, compared to those with off-site access. Moreover, consumption was influenced by the various water source categories.

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

This 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.

Quantifying the structure of residential water demand in the United States: a Generalized Exact Affine Stone Index demand framework

We utilize a Generalized Exact Affine Stone Index system to evaluate the structure of residential water demand that recognizes demand interrelationship between residential and bottled water in the United States, allowing for precommitted consumption. Further, we address expenditure and price endogeneity by accounting for the supply side of the price determination mechanism. A significant substitutability relationship between residential and bottled water is found, while substantial precommitments are established in both residential and bottled water consumption. Residential demand becomes price-elastic once the precommitted level is reached. Finally, ignoring substitutability, precommitments, or endogeneity distorts the demand structure, resulting in erroneous policy implications.

Residential water demand modelling and hydraulic reliability in design of building water supply systems: a review

The building water supply system is a fundamental unit in water supply systems as it is directly associated with end users. However, the studies available on its efficient design are limited. Water demand estimation continues to be an important issue in water supply systems' design because of its multifaceted nature. Hunter's curve, or Fixture Unit method, is widely used for estimating the load on plumbing. Regardless of its popularity, it has a few drawbacks and is arbitrarily modified in some plumbing codes. Fixture-use probability, a basic entity in the Fixture Unit and some other methods, is a difficult parameter to estimate. Commonly, high-resolution field data is used for stochastic modelling of residential water demand which may not be always available. The paper reviews important residential water demand models in view of their applicability in building water supply system design. The irregular nature of water demand in buildings is due to uncertainty in water-use behaviour of users at fixture level. Use of soft-computing techniques can provide an advantage over the other methods in modelling such behaviour. The paper also discusses reliability of building water supply systems and applicability of some common indices for estimating reliability of building water supply systems.