Evaluation of Water Saving Potential for Short-Term Water Demand Management

Abstract

Water shortage has become more frequent with occurrence of severe and frequent droughts and increasing water demand due to many factors, e.g., population growth and socio-economic development. Adaptive water management plans, including both supply-side and demand-side measures, provide water supply utilities guidance during water shortage situations. Among those measures, short-term demand management, e.g., water restrictions for outdoor water use, has gained increasing popularity in reducing water consumption. One key to successful implementation of short-term demand management is to evaluate water saving potential from different water user groups. Evaluation results could facilitate developing effective public messages tailored for different groups of water users. In this study, single-family water consumption in the Tampa Bay Area, located at the west coast Florida in the United States, is analyzed. Different factors including precipitation, temperature, household income and water restrictions are examined through multiple linear regression. Water use data were segregated into five sub-groups based on median household income gathered at census block group level. Analyses using aggregated data reveal potential saving from water shortage based 2-day watering per week to 1-day watering per week is very limited (< 1%), although striking differences between potable water use in distinct socio-economic groups of water users is observed. Analyses based on segregated data found that saving potential for subgroups of water uses with high household income is larger. This result provides important information for water demand managers, considering development of tailored messages for distinct groups of water users to reduce water consumption during shortages. Application of results findings in designing and implementing a water shortage mitigation plan is discussed.