Capacity Building as A Policy Instrument in Water Conservation: A Case Study on Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Consumers

Efforts by municipal water agencies to improve demand end water use efficiency have focused largely on incentive programs and regulatory interventions. However, another important approach to achieving conservation targets is capacity-building, which may be particularly effective when target populations are motivated to improve their consumption efficiency but are lacking information or technology to do so. This case study considers a program by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (CA, USA) which aims to enable conservation among a group of consumers by providing information about current use and potential savings as well as optional access to water saving devices. The impact of this capacity building approach on consumption patterns was quantified by comparing water histories of program participants to a control group of similar sites within the District. Participating sites showed a net savings of 18.22?% when compared to the control group. The study demonstrates that capacity building approaches can effectively compliment other interventions such as conservation incentives to improve demand end water use efficiency.     

南水北调受水区生活用水影响因素与节水潜力

为持续推进水资源节约工作,保障南水北调受水区经济社会可持续发展,开展居民用水习惯问卷调查,分析 南水北调东线和中线受水区各省（直辖市）居民家庭用水现状及差异特点,识别生活用水的主要影响因素,设计节 水情景模拟家庭节水潜力。结果表明,受水区居民用水习惯呈现较明显的地域性差异,其中：天津市和河北省居 民整体节水意识较高,河南省和山东省现状人均日用水量比北京市、安徽省和江苏省低 12%;从用水行为上看,家 庭洗浴日均用水量浮动范围达 30%,是造成用水差异的主要环节。节水情景模拟结果显示,通过进一步提高居民 节水意识、替换高等级节水器具、增强家庭内部废水循环利用等措施,受水区居民人均日用水量可下降 12%～29%。根据受水区各省 (直辖市) 针对其生活用水特点,提出了进一步开展节水器具普及工作、完善节水管 理体制机制、提升居民节水意识以及合理利用废水等节水建议,因地制宜持续推进节水工作。     

Assessing the Potential for Rainwater Harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is one of the promising ways of supplementing the surface and underground scarce water resources in areas where existing water supply system is inadequate to meet demand. Rainwater harvesting is one of the measure for reducing impact of climate change on water supplies. Abeokuta has a mean annual rainfall of 1,156 mm which makes rainwater harvesting ideal. Intra annual variability lies betwen 0.7 and 1.0 while the inter annual variability was 0.2. Annually 74.0 m³ of rainwater can be harvested per household. Estimated annual water demand for flushing, laundry and flushing were 21.6 and 29.4 m³ respectively. Harvested rainwater in Abeokuta can satisfy household monthly water demand for WC flushing and laundry except for November, December, January and February. The excess rainwater stored in September and October is sufficient to supplement the short fall in the dry months provided there is adequate storage.Water savings potential is highest in June and September which is the two rainfall peak period in Southwest Nigeria.     

Determinants of Water Connection Type and Ownership of Water-Using Appliances in Ireland

Developing optimal policies on management of water resources, investment in relevant infrastructure and the protection of the environment requires data on the current and likely future demand for water services. In jurisdictions without water metering, information on the factors influencing demand tends to be limited. Microdata from household surveys can provide some relevant information. Domestic water demand is influenced both by the number of households and their characteristics, in particular the extent to which they employ water-using appliances. This paper focuses on domestic ownership of water-using appliances in the Republic of Ireland, a country where rapid economic and demographic change have put pressure on water and sewerage infrastructure but where there is little domestic metering. Using a large household micro-dataset, we use regression analysis to examine the determinants of the water and sewage mains connection status of Irish homes and to identify the characteristics of households that are associated with having larger or smaller numbers of appliances. Our empirical results suggest that Ireland will have a rising share of mains water and sewerage connections in the future. Household income, house price, dwelling types other than ‘detached’, younger dwellings, and urban location are all positively associated with having a mains connection. The number of types of water-using appliance in a household is positively associated with income, house price, number of residents, owner-occupation, having children (or, to a lesser extent, multiple people) in the household, having a detached house, being located in a rural area and living in a dwelling built after 1997.     

Assessing and Modelling the Influence of Household Characteristics on Per Capita Water Consumption

Sustainable urban water supply management requires, ideally, accurate evidence based estimations on per capita consumption and a good understanding of the factors influencing the consumption. The information can then be used to achieve improved water demand forecasts. Water consumption patterns in the developed countries have been extensively investigated. However, very little is known for the developing world. This paper investigates per capita water consumption resulting from water use activities in different types of households typically found in urban areas of the developing world. A data collection programme was executed for 407 households to extract information on household characteristics, water user behaviour and intensity and the nature of indoor and outdoor water use activities. The rigorous statistical analysis of the data shows that per capita water consumption increases with income: 241, 272 and 290 l/capita/day for low, medium and high income households, respectively. Additionally, the results suggest that per capita consumption increases with the number of adult female members in the household and almost one-third of consumption is via taps. The collected data has been used to develop statistical models using two different regression techniques: multiple linear (STEPWISE) and evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR). The inclusion of demographic parameters in the developed models considerably improved the prediction accuracy. Two of the best performing models are used to forecast the water demand for the city, using four future scenarios: market forces, fortress world, policy reform and great transition. The results suggest that the domestic water demand would be highest in the fortress world scenario due to the increase in population and size of built-up area.     

Assessment of Potable Water Savings in Office Buildings Considering Embodied Energy

The objective of this article is to assess the potential for potable water savings in office buildings located in Florianópolis, southern Brazil. The embodied energy of four alternatives to reduce potable water demand, i.e., rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, dual-flush toilets and water-saving taps, was also assessed. The analyses took into account the potable water end-uses for ten buildings. The potential for potable water savings by using rainwater, as well as, the rainwater tank sizing were estimated using computer simulation. As for greywater reuse, it was considered that greywater from lavatory taps could be treated and reused to flush toilets. The potential for potable water savings by using water-saving plumbing fixtures was estimated by considering the replacement of toilets and taps. In order to estimate the embodied energy in the main components, each system was dimensioned and embodied energy indices were applied. The main result is that the potential for potable water savings by using dual-flush toilets ranges from 21.6 % to 57.4 %; by reusing greywater, it ranges from 6.8 % to 38.4 %; by using rainwater, it ranges from 6.1 % to 21.2 %; by using water-saving taps it ranges from 2.7 % to 15.4 %. However, by considering the embodied energy, the average for the ten buildings indicates that dual-flush toilets are the best choice as it is possible to obtain water savings of 5.50 m³/month per GJ of embodied energy, followed, respectively, by water-saving taps, greywater reuse and rainwater usage. The main conclusion is that the assessment of embodied energy should be considered when evaluating potable water savings in buildings as it helps to identify the best alternatives to save more water while causing less environmental impact.     

Water balance modelling of alternate water sources at the household scale

Alternate water sources are being implemented in urban areas to augment scheme water supplied by a water utility to homes. These sources include residential wells, rainwater tanks and greywater systems. Greater water efficiency can be achieved when these systems are designed to match a water source to a given demand based on both water quantity and quality parameters. In this way the use of an alternate water source can be maximised and the use of the high quality scheme water minimised. This paper examines the use of multiple alternate water sources sequentially to supply the same demand point potentially optimising the use of all available water sources. It also allows correct sizing of such water systems and their components to reduce scheme water demand. A decision support tool based on water balance modelling was developed that considers such water options at the household scale. Application of this tool to eight scenarios for both large and small house lots shows that using alternate water sources individually can result in significant scheme water savings. However by integrating these sources additional scheme water saving can be made.     

基于多智能体的城镇家庭用水量模拟预测分析

提出了基于多智能体的城镇家庭用水量模拟模型(MA-UHWDS),通过构造不同发展情景,对家庭用水量变化趋势及其影响因素进行了分析。以青岛市为实证城市,采用2003—2012年统计资料,计算分析了居民用水边际消费倾向、基本用水需求和不同收入户人均用水量,并对不同情景下2013—2022年各类收入户人均用水量和城镇家庭用水总量进行了定量模拟预测分析。结果表明:2003—2012年中,城镇家庭平均水费支出占总消费支出的比重仅为0.395%,易造成居民节水意识淡薄,最低收入户人均用水量除2008年外均低于基本需水量,而最高收入户平均超过基本需水量14.16 m3,水价改革需综合考虑低收入家庭的支付能力和高收入家庭的过度用水;2022年7类收入户在水价高增长收入低增长情景下的人均用水量与在水价低增长收入高增长情景相比下,分别减少了16.7%、18.4%、18.1%、16.1%、15.0%、17.8%和13.8%,水价和收入会明显影响家庭用水量。MA-UHWDS为区域用水总量调控提供了新的研究思路和工具。     

Optimization of Irrigation Scheduling Using Soil Water Balance and Genetic Algorithms

In arid and semi-arid countries, the use of irrigation is essential to ensure agricultural production. Irrigation water use is expected to increase in the near future due to several factors such as the growing demand of food and biofuel under a probable climate change scenario. For this reason, the improvement of irrigation water use efficiency has been one of the main drivers of the upgrading process of irrigation systems in countries like Spain, where irrigation water use is around 70 % of its total water use. Pressurized networks have replaced the obsolete open-channel distribution systems and on farm irrigation systems have been also upgraded incorporating more efficient water emitters like drippers or sprinklers. Although pressurized networks have significant energy requirements, increasing operational costs. In these circumstances farmers may be unable to afford such expense if their production is devoted to low-value crops. Thus, in this work, a new approach of sustainable management of pressurized irrigation networks has been developed using multiobjective genetic algorithms. The model establishes the optimal sectoring operation during the irrigation season that maximize farmer’s profit and minimize energy cost at the pumping station whilst satisfying water demand of crops at hydrant level taking into account the soil water balance at farm scale. This methodology has been applied to a real irrigation network in Southern Spain. The results show that it is possible to reduce energy cost and improve water use efficiency simultaneously by a comprehensive irrigation management leading, in the studied case, to energy cost savings close to 15 % without significant reduction of crop yield.     

Water Consumption in the Kitchen – A Case Study in Four European Countries

As there is a limited availability of information on the domestic water consumption through kitchen taps, data collected in a study on dishwashing habits in four European countries has been analysed to gather common habits in the water end-use of households. This paper provides empirical data based on water consumption measurements in 81 households. With the help of a simultaneous webcam observation of the kitchen sink, it was possible to assign the metered consumption data to a specific water use, such as cleaning, drinking or cooking. Water end-use has been analysed with this approach at a very deep level. The study shows that there are, in some measure, large country-specific differences in diurnal water use, as well as in the composition of kitchen activities. Furthermore, the research findings indicate that small households use much more water per person and day than bigger households. This is rather important as demographic shifts are causing a decreased average household size - particularly in urban areas - and, therewith, a growing demand. Water-saving measures at the household and individual level should meet this trend. This paper, therefore, also provides information on to what extent particular kitchen tasks are influential for water consumption in the kitchen, respectively, which activities are important to concentrate on for consumer advice regarding water conservation.     

阶梯式计量水价在城市居民生活用水需求管理中的应用

基于计量经济模型,以北京市为例分析了水价对城市居民生活用水需求的影响,并进一步探讨了阶梯式计量水价在城市居民生活用水需求管理中的应用。     

Methodology for Detecting Critical Points in Pressurized Irrigation Networks with Multiple Water Supply Points

The modernization processes of hydraulic infrastructures from old open channels to pressurized networks have increased water use efficiency along with a dramatic increase of energy consumptions. The significant energy requirements associated with the increment of the energy tariffs for irrigation involve higher production costs for farmers. Therefore, strategies to reduce energy consumption in irrigation districts are strongly demanded. Methodologies based on sectoring and critical points control have been applied to branched networks with a single water supply point, obtaining significant energy savings. In this work, a new critical point control methodology for networks with multiple sources has been developed: the WEPCM algorithm, which uses the NSGA-II multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to find the lowest energy consumption operation rule of a set of pumping stations connected to an irrigation network that satisfies the pressure requirements, when the critical points are successively disabled. WECPM has been applied to a real irrigation district in Southern Spain. The obtained results were compared with those achieved by the WEBSOM algorithm, developed for sectoring multiple source networks. The control of critical points by the replacement of two pipes and the installation of four booster pumps provided annual energy savings of 36 % compared to the current network operation. Moreover, the control of critical points was more effective than sectoring, obtaining an additional annual energy saving of 10 %.     

Impact of El Niño and Climate Change on Rainwater Harvesting in a Caribbean State

The water situation of the Pusey district in St Catherine parish of Jamaica is acute because of the district’s hilly terrains which made connections to centralised public water supply difficult. Residents depend on rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems to meet potable needs, like many other catchments across Jamaica. Rainwater collecting practices and water use habits of the residents were surveyed and the present and future RWH capacity was evaluated using the available 18 years (1996 to 2013) rainfall data and downscaled PRECIS model A2 and B2 climate change scenarios. In addition, the effect of El Niño episodes on rainfall patterns was evaluated. The coefficients of variations for annual rainfall were found to be higher for the El Niño years than in normal years. In two of the El Niño years (1997 and 2009), rainwater harvesting capacity is negatively impacted as rainfall annual total is (42 % and 34 %) lesser than the average annual rainfall. The ability of RWH to meet potable needs in 2030s and 2050s will be reduced based on predicted shorter intense showers and frequent dry spells. A storage tank of 2.5 to 4.0 m³ per household (4 persons) is proposed to meet water demand during the maximum consecutive dry days, and January and February water shortage periods. Design of efficient RWH systems and provision of government subsidy on storage tanks will enable the residents to capture more rainwater to meet their daily domestic needs.     

Probabilistic Water Demand Forecasting Using Projected Climatic Data for Blue Mountains Water Supply System in Australia

Long term water demand forecasting is needed for the efficient planning and management of water supply systems. A Monte Carlo simulation approach is adopted in this paper to quantify the uncertainties in long term water demand prediction due to the stochastic nature of predictor variables and their correlation structures. Three future climatic scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1) and four different levels of water restrictions are considered in the demand forecasting for single and multiple dwelling residential sectors in the Blue Mountains region, Australia. It is found that future water demand in 2040 would rise by 2 to 33 % (median rise by 11 %) and 72 to 94 % (median rise by 84 %) for the single and multiple dwelling residential sectors, respectively under different climatic and water restriction scenarios in comparison to water demand in 2010 (base year). The uncertainty band for single dwelling residential sector is found to be 0.3 to 0.4 GL/year, which represent 11 to 13 % variation around the median forecasted demand. It is found that the increase in future water demand is not notably affected by the projected climatic conditions but by the increase in the dwelling numbers in future i.e. the increase in total population. The modelling approach presented in this paper can provide realistic scenarios of forecasted water demands which would assist water authorities in devising appropriate management strategies to enhance the resilience of the water supply systems. The developed method can be adapted to other water supply systems in Australia and other countries.     

Using Information-Gap Decision Theory for Water Resources Planning Under Severe Uncertainty

Water resource managers are required to develop comprehensive water resources plans based on severely uncertain information of the effects of climate change on local hydrology and future socio-economic changes on localised demand. In England and Wales, current water resources planning methodologies include a headroom estimation process separate from water resource simulation modelling. This process quantifies uncertainty based on only one point of an assumed range of deviations from the expected climate and projected demand 25 years into the future. This paper utilises an integrated method based on Information-Gap decision theory to quantitatively assess the robustness of various supply side and demand side management options over a broad range of plausible futures. Findings show that beyond the uncertainty range explored with the headroom method, a preference reversal can occur, i.e. some management options that underperform at lower uncertainties, outperform at higher levels of uncertainty. This study also shows that when 50 % or more of the population adopts demand side management, efficiency related measures and innovative options such as rainwater collection can perform equally well or better than some supply side options The additional use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis shifts the focus away from reservoir expansion options, that perform best in regards to water availability, to combined strategies that include innovative demand side management actions of rainwater collection and greywater reuse as well efficiency measures and additional regional transfers. This paper illustrates how an Information-Gap based approach can offer a comprehensive picture of potential supply/demand futures and a rich variety of information to support adaptive management of water systems under severe uncertainty.     

Parameters Influencing the Sizing of Rainwater Tanks for Use in Houses

Rainwater harvesting has been studied in different countries as a way of easing water availability problems and reducing potable water demand in buildings. The most important factor relating to the efficiency of a rainwater system is the correct sizing of the rainwater tank. Therefore, the objective of this article is to assess the influence of rainfall, roof area, number of residents, potable water demand and rainwater demand on rainwater tank sizing. The analysis was performed by using computer simulation and by considering daily rainfall data for three cities located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The roof areas considered were 50, 100, 200 and 400 m²; the potable water demands were 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 l per capita per day; the rainwater demands were taken as a percentage of the potable water demand, i.e., 10% to 100% at increments of 10%; and the number of residents was two and four. Results indicated a wide variation of rainwater tank sizes for each city and also for each parameter. The main conclusion that can be made from the study is that rainwater tank sizing for houses must be performed for each specific situation, i.e., considering local rainfall, roof area, potable water demand, rainwater demand and number of residents. Therefore, sizing rainwater tanks according to local tradition is not recommended as it may incur low efficiency.     

Optimal Operation of Pressurized Irrigation Networks with Several Supply Sources

The evolution of water distribution systems to pressurized networks has improved water use efficiency, but also significantly increased energy consumption. However, sustainable irrigated agriculture must be characterized by the reasonable and efficient use of both water and energy. Irrigation sectoring where farmers are organized in turns is one of the most effective measures to reduce energy use in irrigation water distribution networks. Previous methodologies developed for branched irrigation networks with one single source node have resulted in considerable energy savings. However, these methodologies were not suitable for networks with several water supply points. In this work, we develop an optimization methodology (WEBSOM) aimed at minimizing energy consumption and based on operational sectoring for networks with several source nodes. Using the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm, the optimal sectoring operation calendar that minimizes both energy consumption and pressure deficit is obtained. This methodology is tested in the irrigation district of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Spain) with three pumping stations, showing that potential annual energy savings of between 20 % and 29 % can be achieved, thus ensuring full pressure requirements in nearly all hydrants, along with the total satisfaction of irrigation requirements.     

城镇居民生活用水的需水函数分析和水价节水效果评估

结合北京市统计数据分析表明，城镇居民人均年生活用水量与居民生活用水购买力系数（居民可支配收入与生活用水水价的比值）关系十分显著，本文在此基础上．探讨并建立了城镇居民生活用水的需求函数和水价节水效果的评估方法。实例测算结果表明，北京市城镇居民生活用水购买力系数的边际弹性为0．38．亦即北京市城镇居民生活用水购买力降低1％，城镇居民生活用水量减少0．38％；提高水价具有显著的节水效果，“十五”期间北京市城镇居民用水的水价累计节水量达到了0．9亿m^3，人均年节水量2m^3；现状北京市不同收入人群城镇居民水费支出占可支配收入的比例均小于1．0％，低于国际通行的评判可承受标准值2．5％，表明北京市城镇居民对水价承受能力比较大，水价仍有较大上升空间。     

Water Use Efficiency and Productivity of the Irrigation Districts in Southern Alberta

The data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was used to estimate the technical efficiency (TE) scores, the Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) indices, and their implicit input shadow shares for 12 irrigation districts in Southern Alberta using data for the period 2008–12. The main purpose was to establish benchmarks so that future increases in conservation, efficiency and total factor productivity of water use (major goals of Alberta’s Water for Life strategy) can be assessed. Results of an input-oriented DEA model indicated that the irrigation districts were, on average, 84.3 % technically efficient in their input use, primarily the net water diverted. The output-oriented model indicated that the irrigation districts, alternatively, could expand their total irrigated areas by 58.3 % with the current level of input use. Over the period 2008–12, the year-to-year mean Malmquist TFP for the irrigation districts of Southern Alberta was estimated to be 0.98 %. Net water diverted was identified as the most important contributing input (76 %) to the TFP change. The second and third contributing factors were pivot irrigation technology (6 %) and precipitation (5 %).     

Assessing the economic impact of North China’s water scarcity mitigation strategy: a multi-region,water-extended computable general equilibrium analysis

This paper describes a multi-region computable general equilibrium model for analyzing the effectiveness of measures and policies for mitigating North China’s water scarcity with respect to three different groups of scenarios. The findings suggest that a reduction in groundwater use would negatively affect economic growth and household incomes. A planned water-transfer project would improve economic development and reduce the over-exploitation of local water resources, while water demand management policies would improve water-use efficiency through reallocating water to those sectors having a higher marginal product value. Several important policy implications are drawn from these findings.