This empirical study is aimed to analyze the determinants of residential water demand and performed water use practice at household level in Hawassa. This study will fill the research gap and information on factors affecting household water demand in regions being water scarce and will provide useful information for policy-makers and water utility planners in order to use scarce drinking water resource more efficiently. In this study the proposed potential factors determine household water demand in Hawassa were; Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, the average monthly household expenditure, use of water appliances and household water use patterns for various purposes, and household awareness towards water source conservation. The cross sectional survey was done in 169 rondomly selected households. The collected Data was analyzed using multiple regression models with different functional forms (linear, semi-log) and heteroskedaticity corrected model was also used in each of functional forms to examine the structural relationship between the quantity of water demand and explanatory variables. The gretl statisitcal software package was used. The descriptive statistics analysis was also followed to present results in tables, charts and graphs (mean, median, minimum, maximum, frequency...

The city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia has been recognised as having high quality drinking water, but like other urban cities in the world, its growing population means increasing water demand. Melbourne is also already on its eight year of dry climatic conditions and is currently experiencing a drought that forced water authorities to impose water restrictions after 20 years of unrestricted supply. The current drought, dwindling supplies and possible impact of climate change highlight the importance of making better use of this precious resource. The Water Resources Strategy has been developed for Melbourne, which serve as the basis for the Victorian Government to set per capita consumption reduction targets of 15%, 25% and 30% by 2010, 2015 and 2020 respectively. The strategy was developed to ensure a continuation of a safe, reliable and cost effective water supply that is environmentally sustainable in the long term. This is in recognition that population growth and water consumption will eventually require additional supplies of water (Water Resources Strategy Committee for the Melbourne Area 2002). One of the key findings of the National Land and Water Resources Audit's Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 is the lack of detailed knowledge about the end use (Australian Water Association 2001). The

Municipal water suppliers are increasingly faced with implementing programs to address temporary water shortages in the United States. Having reliable estimates for the effectiveness of these programs will help in water supply planning. This dissertation estimates the reductions in residential water-use for voluntary and mandatory water-use restrictions used in Virginia during the 2002 drought. These restrictions were evaluated using both a conventional approach (single-dummy variable for each) and non-conventional approach where program intensity was accounted for. Program intensity was measured by information dissemination for voluntary restrictions, and by information dissemination and enforcement efforts for mandatory restrictions. An unbalanced panel with data from 21 municipal water suppliers was used in the analysis. Under the conventional approach, voluntary restrictions had no significant effect on water-use and mandatory restrictions showed a small to moderate effect. However, program intensity was found to have a significant influence on the magnitude of the water-use reductions in the non-conventional approach. These reductions ranged from 0-7% for voluntary restrictions, and from 0-22% for mandatory restrictions. Moreover, these reductions followed a pattern of increasing program effectiveness with higher levels of information and enforcement. This result indicates that water supply planners need to give considerable attention to the manner in which drought management programs are implemented. Price was also found to have an important effect on residential water-use. A moderate price increase of $3 per 1000 gallons would be expected to reduce water-use by almost 15%. Thus combining mandatory restrictions (implemented at high intensity) with a moderate to high price increase could result in water-use savings approaching 40% based on estimates from this analysis. Other important findings included: a) consumers were responding to a mix of pure marginal price and fixed fees/previous block rates, b) apartment accounts were found to be included in most of the localities residential data and had a significant impact on water-use, and c) the income parameter was measuring more than a pure income effect. / Ph. D.

The Rappahannock River Basin Commission is undergoing a collaborative water supply planning process for Virginia's Rappahannock River Basin. Participants in the planning process have indicated an interest in technical information about the possible impact conservation programs may have on reducing residential water demand. The potential influence of conservation programs is identified through a literature synthesis and a statistical analysis of residential water demand for a locality within the basin (Stafford County). In the literature synthesis, conservation programs are classified as voluntary or mandatory. Voluntary programs utilize financial incentives (such as water pricing and rebates) or educational incentives (such as radio ads and bill inserts) to encourage conservation, and mandatory programs utilize regulatory incentives (such as plumbing standards and bans on outdoor water use). The water demand statistical model was estimated to more specifically identify how Stafford residential water customers respond to water pricing/rate structure changes (financial incentives), imposition of federal regulations on plumbing standards (regulatory incentives), and a voluntary conservation program utilizing educational incentives. The results indicate that while many studies have found residential customers are responsive to price changes, Stafford residential water users have not significantly changed their water demand in response to price/rate structure changes. Previous literature also suggests federal plumbing standards potentially have a significant impact on water demand. The influence of new plumbing standards in the Stafford demand model was inconclusive and warrants further analysis. Consistent with the literature, voluntary conservation programs utilizing educational incentives alone did not substantially alter residential water demand in Stafford County. / Master of Science

A modelagem da demanda de água residencial fornece importantes subsídios ao dimensionamento e gerenciamento de redes de abastecimento de água. O comportamento desta demanda pode ser descrito através de processos estocásticos, caracterizados pela ocorrência de pulsos retangulares de demanda de água ao longo do tempo. Nesse contexto, este trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivos monitorar e modelar a demanda de água residencial através dos modelos estocásticos dos pulsos retangulares de Neyman Scott (NSRP) e dos Pulsos Totais (OP). Enquanto que no modelo NSRP há a tentativa de simular a demanda de água através da representação dos seus constituintes elementares, no modelo OP busca-se a representação direta da demanda de água agregada dos usuários finais, como observada nos hidrômetros. A calibração e a validação dos modelos foram feitas a partir do monitoramento do consumo de água de quatro residências localizadas na cidade de São Carlos, caracterizadas por perfis de abastecimento distintos. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidos dispositivos dataloggers, que associados aos sensores/emissores de pulsos dos hidrômetros, permitiram o monitoramento do consumo de água ao longo do tempo dos usuários residenciais individuais. Durante a elaboração da pesquisa, foram observados efeitos negativos nas modelagens relacionados à influência dos reservatórios domiciliares (caixas d\'água) no perfil temporal do consumo de água das residências. Buscando mitigar esses efeitos, foram propostas modificações nas etapas de calibração e de geração das séries sintéticas de demanda de água. De uma forma geral, observou-se que as modificações propostas contribuíram para que as séries sintéticas geradas a partir dos modelos NSRP e OP reproduzissem de forma mais acurada as estatísticas das séries observadas, principalmente com relação às intensidades e durações das demandas simuladas. Apesar de as versões modificadas dos modelos NSRP e OP apresentarem desempenho similar na reprodução das médias, variâncias e covariâncias das séries observadas, o modelo OP reproduziu de forma mais consistente os volumes consumidos diários observados. / The modelling of residential water demand provides important subsidies for the design and management of water supply networks. The behavior of this demand can be described through stochastic processes, characterized by the occurrence of rectangular pulses of water demand over time. In this context, the objectives of this research were to monitor and model residential water demand using the Neyman Scott Rectangular Pulse model (NSRP) and Overall Pulse model (OP). While in the NSRP model there is the attempt to simulate the water demand through the representation of its elementary constituents, the OP model aims to direct represent the aggregate water demand of the end users, as observed in water meters. The calibration and validation of the models were done by monitoring the water consumption of four residences located in the city of São Carlos, characterized by different supply profiles. To this end, dataloggers were developed, which, coupled with sensors/pulse emitters and water meters, allowed the monitoring of water consumption over time of individual residential users. During the research, negative effects were observed in the models, related to the influence of the domestic reservoirs on the temporal patter of water consumption of the residences. To mitigate these effects, modifications were proposed in the calibration and generation stages of the synthetic water demand generation series. In general, it was observed that these proposed modifications contributed to a more accurately reproduction of the observed series statistics by the OP and NSRP synthetic series, especially regarding the intensities and durations of the simulated demands. Although the modified versions of the NSRP and OP models presented similar performance in the reproduction of the means, variances and covariance of the observed series, the OP model reproduced in a more consistent way the observed daily consumed volumes.

A modelagem da demanda de água residencial fornece importantes subsídios ao dimensionamento e gerenciamento de redes de abastecimento de água. O comportamento desta demanda pode ser descrito através de processos estocásticos, caracterizados pela ocorrência de pulsos retangulares de demanda de água ao longo do tempo. Nesse contexto, este trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivos monitorar e modelar a demanda de água residencial através dos modelos estocásticos dos pulsos retangulares de Neyman Scott (NSRP) e dos Pulsos Totais (OP). Enquanto que no modelo NSRP há a tentativa de simular a demanda de água através da representação dos seus constituintes elementares, no modelo OP busca-se a representação direta da demanda de água agregada dos usuários finais, como observada nos hidrômetros. A calibração e a validação dos modelos foram feitas a partir do monitoramento do consumo de água de quatro residências localizadas na cidade de São Carlos, caracterizadas por perfis de abastecimento distintos. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidos dispositivos dataloggers, que associados aos sensores/emissores de pulsos dos hidrômetros, permitiram o monitoramento do consumo de água ao longo do tempo dos usuários residenciais individuais. Durante a elaboração da pesquisa, foram observados efeitos negativos nas modelagens relacionados à influência dos reservatórios domiciliares (caixas d\'água) no perfil temporal do consumo de água das residências. Buscando mitigar esses efeitos, foram propostas modificações nas etapas de calibração e de geração das séries sintéticas de demanda de água. De uma forma geral, observou-se que as modificações propostas contribuíram para que as séries sintéticas geradas a partir dos modelos NSRP e OP reproduzissem de forma mais acurada as estatísticas das séries observadas, principalmente com relação às intensidades e durações das demandas simuladas. Apesar de as versões modificadas dos modelos NSRP e OP apresentarem desempenho similar na reprodução das médias, variâncias e covariâncias das séries observadas, o modelo OP reproduziu de forma mais consistente os volumes consumidos diários observados. / The modelling of residential water demand provides important subsidies for the design and management of water supply networks. The behavior of this demand can be described through stochastic processes, characterized by the occurrence of rectangular pulses of water demand over time. In this context, the objectives of this research were to monitor and model residential water demand using the Neyman Scott Rectangular Pulse model (NSRP) and Overall Pulse model (OP). While in the NSRP model there is the attempt to simulate the water demand through the representation of its elementary constituents, the OP model aims to direct represent the aggregate water demand of the end users, as observed in water meters. The calibration and validation of the models were done by monitoring the water consumption of four residences located in the city of São Carlos, characterized by different supply profiles. To this end, dataloggers were developed, which, coupled with sensors/pulse emitters and water meters, allowed the monitoring of water consumption over time of individual residential users. During the research, negative effects were observed in the models, related to the influence of the domestic reservoirs on the temporal patter of water consumption of the residences. To mitigate these effects, modifications were proposed in the calibration and generation stages of the synthetic water demand generation series. In general, it was observed that these proposed modifications contributed to a more accurately reproduction of the observed series statistics by the OP and NSRP synthetic series, especially regarding the intensities and durations of the simulated demands. Although the modified versions of the NSRP and OP models presented similar performance in the reproduction of the means, variances and covariance of the observed series, the OP model reproduced in a more consistent way the observed daily consumed volumes.