Estimating commercial, industrial, and institutional water use on the basis of heated building area

Abstract

The commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) sectors are significant contributors to public water demand. To estimate CII water use, utilities historically have relied on water use coefficients that use the number of employees as the measure of size. However, it is difficult to obtain this information at a resolution fine enough to differentiate among individual water users and adequately evaluate water conservation options. To overcome these challenges, a methodology was developed to estimate CII water use through spatial, physical, and economic property‐based information publicly available from the Florida Department of Revenue (FDOR) for each of the 8.8 million parcels in the state. Water use data for 3,172 CII parcels were linked with FDOR data to develop average and peak water use coefficients normalized by heated building area. By estimating water use at the parcel level, the methodology provides baseline water use estimates essential to evaluating water conservation options.