Seasonal Demand Dynamics of Residential Water End-Uses

Water

Kumudu Rathnayaka²  Hector Malano²  Shiroma Maheepala¹  Biju George²  Bandara Nawarathna³  Meenakshi Arora²  Peter Roberts⁴ 

[1] CSIRO Land and Water, Highett, Victoria 3190, Australia; E-Mail:;Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic 3010, Australia; E-Mails:;Flood Forecasting and Warning Branch, Bureau of Meteorology, GPO Box 1289, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia; E-Mail:;Yarra Valley Water, Lucknow St, Mitcham, Victoria 3132, Australia; E-Mail:

关键词: household water demand;    seasonal variability;    water end-uses;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w7010202

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Water demand prediction by end-use at an appropriate spatial and temporal resolution is essential for planning water supply systems that will supply water from a diversified set of sources on a fit-for-purpose basis. Understanding seasonal, daily and sub-daily water demand including peak demand by end-uses is an essential planning requirement to implement a fit-for-purpose water supply strategy. Studies in the literature assume that all indoor water uses except evaporative cooler water use are weather independent and do not exhibit seasonal variability. This paper presents an analysis undertaken to examine seasonal variability of residential water end-uses. The analysis was repeated using two sets of data to ensure the validity of findings. The study shows that shower water use is significantly different between winter and summer, in addition to irrigation, evaporative cooler and pool water end-uses, while other water end-uses are not. Weather is shown to be a significant determinant of shower water use; in particular it affects shower duration which increases with lower temperature. Further analysis on shower water use suggests that it is driven by behavioural factors in addition to weather, thus providing useful insights to improve detailed end-use water demand predictions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.