Water demand management optimization methodology

Abstract

In contrast to traditional supply augmentation options, demand management options include specifying and/or replacing many small end uses that individually have a minimal effect on overall water use but that collectively can constitute significant aggregate reductions in demand. This article outlines a systematic procedure to quantify savings potential of single‐family residential indoor end‐use devices of a given utility and then select the optimal blend of retrofits to achieve a specified goal. Three steps are used to quantify savings potential of all end‐use devices. First, a utility's current end‐use fixture inventory and associated water use is estimated from parcel‐level data for each singlefamily residence. Second, customers are clustered into relatively homogeneous water use categories based on the age of the dwelling unit and the number of bathrooms. Third, water savings are calculated directly as the difference between current and proposed use after implementation of a management option for each group. This information is used to develop performance functions that estimate total water savings as a function of the number of fixture retrofits for each group.