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.

The Effect of Social Behavior on Residential Water Consumption

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.

Plumbing vs Nudging: The Lasting Effect of Efficiency Improvements on Water Conservation

Mega-cities worldwide are facing water security challenges. We investigate two solutions to urban water security: improving plumbing and nudging consumers. We show that improving plumbing alone generates long-lasting effects in water conservation. Using anonymised water consumption data based on water bills from 1.5 million accounts in Singapore over 10 years, our staggered difference-in-differences estimates show that a nation-wide Home Improvement Programme reduces residential water consumption by 3.5%. The effect persists for a decade and is observed across population subgroups. The efficiency improvements also help in mitigating the effect of extreme environmental conditions on water use. Nation-wide nudging through peer comparison may not achieve similar outcomes.

Costs and Impacts of a Smart Metering Program in a Water Distribution System: Case Study in Brasília, Brazil

Residential water consumption data can be important for sizing and operation rules in a water distribution network (WDN) if well compiled. This study aims to evaluate the impacts of a smart metering program in the city of Brasília, Brazil, by means of comparisons between costs and benefits obtained. Two groups of costs were evaluated: (i) the implementation costs, which were obtained from a public database of the Environmental Sanitation Company of Brasília (Caesb) and (ii) the maintenance costs obtained from both interviews and internal research with Caesb’s water managers. To analyze the benefits of the smart metering system, three factors were observed: (i) the water demand reduction with possible lower consumption patterns, (ii) the increased revenues from more accurate measurements, and (iii) the costs reduction when comparing the visual water meter reading with the smart metering. Furthermore to promote an economic viability analysis, this study examined the project payback time considering costs, benefits and a minimum attractiveness rate.