Simulating the impact of water demand management options on water consumption and wastewater generation profiles

Abstract

This paper describes the development and application of a simulation tool to assess the impact of water-efficient appliances and greywater recycling strategies on the domestic water consumption and wastewater generation profiles. Two time-series datasets of domestic water consumption in UK households–each consisting of more than 20,000 observations–were used to deduce water use appliance usage patterns as a function of water consumption per use for each water-use appliance and household characteristic (e.g. occupancy). The deduced trends were then used to develop a simulation tool that can generate water consumption and wastewater generation profiles reflecting user input for water use appliances and household characteristics. The inbuilt flexibility in the tool allows investigation of each water use appliance both individually and collectively, and facilitates informed decision-making for devising targeted retrofitting programmes. This research has application for water service provision and policy making globally, with potential impact on both water supply and wastewater management.