Residential potable and recycled water end uses in a dual reticulated supply system

Abstract

The need to understand, model and predict urban water consumption is paramount, particularly with urban densities increasing throughout the world. Specifically, it is vital to determine potable water savings, daily demand patterns and actual end use water consumption experienced in diversified water supply schemes in order to verify planning estimates and justify the future application of such schemes. This paper details the results of a mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) end use investigation, pre-and post-commissioning of recycled water, in a dual reticulated supply scheme in the master planned Pimpama Coomera region, Gold Coast, Australia. Recycled water, supplied for irrigation and toilet flushing, accounted for 59.1 L/p/d or 32.2% of total consumption post-commissioning, with irrigation being 28.9 L/p/d or 15.7%. Furthermore, developed end use diurnal patterns demonstrate the unique daily demand consumption within the region and significant reductions in peak potable water demand when compared with single reticulated supply areas. The paper concludes with discussions of implications for better informed water services infrastructure planning activities.

Developing Novel Approaches to Tracking Domestic Water Demand Under Uncertainty—A Reflection on the “Up Scaling” of Social Science Approaches in the United Kingdom

“…In other countries such as Australia this approach is referred to as water end-use studies (Giurco et al 2010;Willis et al 2011). Micro-component analysis models water flow at specific 'micro' outputs (e.g., kitchen sinks, showers, toilets, garden taps) in individual homes, and relates this to a range of contextual information from demographics to weather data.…”

Framework for Enhancing the Supply-Demand Balance of a Tri-Supply Urban Water Scheme in Australia

“…Design engineers often use 2.3, but recent experience indicates that a 1.8 could be credible. Moreover, a recent study [13] showed that dual reticulated supply schemes can provide significant reductions in potable supply peak demand. Obviously, the selection of lower peaking factors to reduce staging requirements, may mean that alternative strategies may need to be applied to meet those few peak days each year.…”

Relevance and Benefits of Urban Water Reuse in Tourist Areas

“…This lesson encouraged Sydney Water to adopt an ambitious water reuse program, which aims to have 25 more water recycling schemes in place by 2015, supplying 12% of Sydney's water needs. In 2009, another large dual reticulation scheme was online in Pimpama-Coomera, Queensland, serving up to 45,000 homes for toilet flushing and outdoor uses [5]. A detailed investigation of end use patterns demonstrated that peak demand on potable water was significantly reduced (recycled water accounts for 32.2% of total daily consumption, with irrigation being 15.7%).…”