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 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 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.

Economic development and residential water consumption in Chile

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Fercovic ◽  
William Foster ◽  
Oscar Melo
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Residential Water

AbstractA better understanding of the relative importance of factors related to climate change and to changes associated with economic growth would serve to inform water policy and to focus scarce public resources on anticipated problems arising from distinct sources of changes in water demand. This article investigates the determinants of residential water consumption in Chile, a developing country that has seen noteworthy changes in incomes, household size, poverty rates and levels of urbanization, and which is projected to experience significant climatic but varied changes, depending on the region of the country. Panel data for 1998-2010 at the municipal level is used to analyze the sensitivity of residential water demand to climate and development-related factors. In the case of Chile, the effect on water consumption of these development-related changes is estimated to be several times that of the changes associated with climate projections for 50 to 80 years in the future.

Examining the effectiveness of residential water demand-side management policies in Israel

Water Policy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lavee ◽  
Y. Danieli ◽  
G. Beniad ◽  
T. Shvartzman ◽  
T. Ash
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Demand Side Management ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Residential Water Demand ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

Increasing global water shortage is enhancing the need for water management policies, such as water demand policies. This study presents the main water demand-side management policies implemented in Israel, designed to reduce water demand in the urban sector, and subsequently examines their effectiveness by an econometric model, based on residential water consumption data. The main findings indicate that, among the economic policy tools, a smooth increase of water tariffs was not effective, while a drought surcharge led to a significant reduction in residential water demand. Educational policy tools also significantly reduced water demand, though the daily report on the Kinneret water level (a long-term educational tool) had a larger effect on residential water consumption than awareness campaigns (a short-term educational tool). These results may assist policymakers to make informed decisions regarding the implementation of such policy tools.

More Water Please, It's Getting Hot! The Effect of Climate on Residential Water Demand

2015 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 1550007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Zapata
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Residential Water Demand ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Residential Water Consumption ◽  
Residential Water

Climate change is expected to alter the supply and demand for water in the residential sector. Existing studies exploit the differences in climate across seasons mostly in North America and Europe, and identify changes in consumption levels attributed only to households' short-term responses. The results from models that simulate household consumption of water are sensitive to the parameters that govern the behavior of climate variables and household responses in the upcoming decades, and fail to consider short-term determinants of water consumption. The findings in the literature suggest an inexistent or small effect of climate on residential water demand. This paper studies the relationship between climate conditions and residential water consumption that corresponds to households' long-term adaptation to climate, while controlling for the effect of short-term determinants of water demand. I take advantage of the geographic variation in climate conditions across municipalities of Ecuador to identify the effect of temperature, precipitation and humidity on water demand. I adopt average prices and an IV technique to address the endogeneity problem between water prices and quantities that arise from the use of increasing-block water tariffs. I find a large and significant effect of temperature on residential water demand, whereas precipitation and humidity have a small effect. Temperature also has a stronger effect on water demand among low-income households.

Social interaction in water demand management implementation

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 295-301
Author(s):  
J.S. Buckle
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Water Demand Management ◽  
Education Project ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
Efficient Water Use

This article describes a successful awareness and education project undertaken in an East Rand township by the Water Cycle Management Section of Rand Water. The Project's focus was to create awareness in the community of the broad concept of water cycle management within an environment and to transfer skills to community members (facilitators) who could then assist in ensuring effective and efficient water use.

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 Modelling global water stress of the recent past: on the relative importance of trends in water demand and climate variability

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 3785-3808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Wada ◽  
L. P. H. van Beek ◽  
M. F. P. Bierkens
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Global Population

Abstract. During the past decades, human water use has more than doubled, yet available freshwater resources are finite. As a result, water scarcity has been prevalent in various regions of the world. Here, we present the first global assessment of past development of water stress considering not only climate variability but also growing water demand, desalinated water use and non-renewable groundwater abstraction over the period 1960–2001 at a spatial resolution of 0.5°. Agricultural water demand is estimated based on past extents of irrigated areas and livestock densities. We approximate past economic development based on GDP, energy and household consumption and electricity production, which are subsequently used together with population numbers to estimate industrial and domestic water demand. Climate variability is expressed by simulated blue water availability defined by freshwater in rivers, lakes, wetlands and reservoirs by means of the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB. We thus define blue water stress by comparing blue water availability with corresponding net total blue water demand by means of the commonly used, Water Scarcity Index. The results show a drastic increase in the global population living under water-stressed conditions (i.e. moderate to high water stress) due to growing water demand, primarily for irrigation, which has more than doubled from 1708/818 to 3708/1832 km3 yr−1 (gross/net) over the period 1960–2000. We estimate that 800 million people or 27% of the global population were living under water-stressed conditions for 1960. This number is eventually increased to 2.6 billion or 43% for 2000. Our results indicate that increased water demand is a decisive factor for heightened water stress in various regions such as India and North China, enhancing the intensity of water stress up to 200%, while climate variability is often a main determinant of extreme events. However, our results also suggest that in several emerging and developing economies (e.g. India, Turkey, Romania and Cuba) some of past extreme events were anthropogenically driven due to increased water demand rather than being climate-induced.

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