AWWA SOURCES59212

This paper gives an account of the urban water supply process in the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain), with a view to obtaining a greater in-depth understanding of the demand situation. At present 5.5 million inhabitants are provided with drinking water in the area. The process followed is basically practical, the approach was focussed on the improvement of the planning and operating methods for the supply system, and the demand management activities play a major role in this respect. The method followed was developed in three stages and lasted four years, but the total cost amounted to less than 0.002 Euros per m3 supplied per year. Each phase served to increase precision where quantifying the factors explaining the monthly, daily and hourly demand patterns was concerned. The process began by providing a detailed analysis of the information available, followed by a survey involving 5,000 users, after which photogrammetric and mapping information of the outdoor uses was processed and finally, the end uses in 300 households were monitored every second. Includes figures.