AWWA ACE70862

The purpose of this research presented on a powerpoint presentation is to quantify the residential water use changes across North America observed during the past 30 years. The study seeks to learn to what extent the household water usage patterns observed throughout North America vary over time, and to begin to characterize those patterns by unique place and utility elements. Specific objectives include: understanding water usage behavior patterns and trends; assessing the impact of those patterns on water utility operations; and, providing data that can be correlated with future trends for planning purposes. Project methodology included: for national trends - examine the historic water usage trend of randomly selected utilities; for regional characteristics - explore the relationship between usage and utility-specific characteristics; and, for local behavior - explore usage behavior at the household level, and analyze the relationships between the household usage data and the underlying socio-economic factors. Conclusions indicate that: there has been a pervasive decline in residential water usage demand; and, econometric models estimate that penetration of conservation appliances attribute to a 18.8 % decline in usage. Includes tables, figures.