Water Science & Technology: Water Supply Vol 7 No 4 pp 57–63 © IWA Publishing 2007 doi:10.2166/ws.2007.099

Identification of opportunities to improve efficiency by water consumption assessment

S.L. Diás^*, H. Lucas^**, M.do Céu Almeida^***, H. Alegre^****, M. Vriato^***** and D. Loureiro^******

Characterization of water demand can be of large value for the management of water supply systems. Especially when water resources are limited, permanently or seasonally, the identification of the types of consumers and its characteristics are essential to identify opportunities to promote efficiency and demand management options. For each customer category, information to be obtained includes individual uses, typical daily usage patterns (average and dispersion), specific characteristics and magnitude. Knowledge and systematization of water uses also provides data to improve water balance and thus allows reducing uncertainty in losses estimation. In this paper, a study carried out in Algarve, a region where stress on water supply resources has been increasing, is presented aiming at better characterise water consumption in the region to improve response both to normal and in emergency situations.

Keywords: Demand management; efficient use; water consumption

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