A Review of Residential Water Consumption Determinants

Abstract

Abstract. Water supply sectors are facing higher uncertainty in both resource availability and consumer demand. Future conservation programs require a full understanding of underlying factors of residential water consumption. However, previous studies have only considered one or several groups of factors without putting them all together in a bigger picture. This study was developed to provide a comprehensive view on these determinants and their relationships, as well as to discuss current gaps and possible directions. Determinants are categorized into six groups: (1) Economic; (2) Socio-demographic; (3) Physical properties; (4) Technological; (5) Climatic; and (6) Spatial drivers. All these determinants produce a very complex picture with many possible interrelationships. This nature, in one hand, poses challenges in selecting suitable technique to avoid autocorrelation, but on the other hand, provides chances to substitute unavailable important data with proxy variables. We have emphasized the lack of regional and cultural diversity in current studies, as most of them were carried out in developed and arid areas. Hence, a wider range of country specific and local-based studies is needed to better reflect the determinants and their relationships in diverse contexts. In future studies, a broader assessment scope taking into account effects such as feedback loop, spillover, and rebound should also be considered. In addition, these studies must deal with modern issues such as balancing between smart monitoring device utilization and consumer privacy.

Machine Learning and Data Analytic Techniques in Digital Water Metering: A Review

“…Several studies have been undertaken to understand the effect of socioeconomic and demographic factors in water consumption and conservation [19,32,94]. Although these studies have not promoted immediate water savings, they have helped to identify the social, economic, and demographic factors behind water consumption patterns, which may lead to effective water management policies such as targeted community awareness programs or education.…”

“…In addition, studies performed to identify the determinants of household water consumption are essential for understanding the factors behind increasing or decreasing water usage. According to Bich-Ngoc and Teller [19], the examined factors in the literature can be categorised into six groups: (a) economic; (b) sociodemographic; (c) physical characteristics; (d) technological; (e) climatic; and (f) special factors. Higher income, older tenants, presence of infants, double income family, larger house area, irrigation, holiday, number of generations, and renter-occupied household are some of the drivers behind increased water consumption.…”

“…To achieve these goals, we performed a systematic literature review in the field. Despite previous review studies having been conducted in this field [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], none-to the best of our knowledge-have been conducted from the perspective of ML and DA techniques. We believe that by providing a focused investigation of the literature, this review will benefit ML and DA practitioners as well as researchers in the water industry who are working on digital water metering and closely related fields.…”

Analysis of Factors Influencing Domestic Water Consumption in Karoi Town, Zimbabwe

“…Furthermore, the influence of price on domestic water consumption also differs among people of different socio-demographic groups. Literature has shown that domestic water consumption is low in low-income households since water in such households is just only for basic needs and as such cannot be reduced even with high water prices (Bich Ngoc & Teller, 2018;Inman & Jeffery, 2006) However, studies have also demonstrate that there is also evidence that very little or no effect of price to domestic water consumption on high-income households (Renwick & Archibald, 1998) since price signal is not strong enough to curb their consumption (Renwick & Green, 2000). Some studies point to the fact that water consumption is more responsive to price changes in summer than in winter.…”

Resource-conscious urban planning and design : Exploring the potential of urban metabolism assessments

“…To date, however, few studies consider a long-list of potential factors of influence. They account only for one or a small number of independent variables instead, with household size and income level being frequently studied (Bich-Ngoc and Teller, 2018;Wiedenhofer et al, 2013). Still, it is known that consumption patterns cannot be explained by individual factors but rather by a large number of interconnected factors that have direct and indirect effects (Bich-Ngoc & Teller, 2018;Voskamp et al, 2020;You & Kim, 2018).…”