An improved area-based guideline for domestic water demand estimation in South Africa

Abstract

Increased infrastructural development and potable water consumption have highlighted the importance of accurate waterdemand estimates for effective municipal water services infrastructure planning and design. In the light of evolving water consumption trends, the current guideline for municipal water demand estimation, published in 1983, needs to be revised. This study investigated, using regression analyses, the combined effect of various socio-economic and climatic parameters on municipal water consumption with the objective of determining the dominant influencing parameters and suggesting a new guideline for water-demand estimation. To this end, an initial database comprising more than 2.5 x10 6 metered water con sumption records extracted from 48 municipal treasury databases, which are located within 5 out of the 7 South African water regions was analysed. Each of the 48 municipal treasury databases spanned a period of at least 12 months. The final amalga mated database, after rigorous cleaning and filtering, comprised 1 091 685 consumption records.

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