Evaluation of household water consumption to modify the consumption pattern, case study: Mashhad City

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Mohsen Kadkhodaei ¹
• Ali Abbasi ²

¹ Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

² Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

10.22067/jfcei.2024.88791.1309

Abstract

Modifying the pattern of water consumption in household uses has a prominent and important role in the management of urban water consumption. By promoting frugal behaviors, per capita water consumption in the domestic sector can be reduced to an acceptable level. The purpose of this research is to evaluation and prioritize different types of household water consumption in order to improve the consumption pattern in Mashhad city. For this purpose, the similarity of consumption behaviors in different household uses of water were investigated using the confirmatory factor analysis method, the result of which indicated the lack of similarity in consumption behaviors of people in different household uses in terms of whether the consumption behaviors are correct or incorrect. Then, different household uses were prioritized according to the average criteria of the volume of water consumption and the proportion of incorrect consumption behaviors. Based on the results, the use of water for bathing, washing, and toilet were assigned the highest priorities, and the use of brushing teeth, washing dishes, washing machine, and car washing were placed in the next priorities.

Keywords

• Urban water consumption
• Water consumption per capita
• Water consumption behaviors
• Water saving behaviors
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

---

References

[1] WHO/UNICEF, “Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG baselines,” World Health Organization, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/258617 [Accessed: May. 7, 2023].

[2] D. K. Dash, “22 of India’s 32 big cities face water crisis,” Indiatimes.com, 2013. [Online]. Available: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/22-of-indias-32-big-cities-face-water-crisis/articleshow/22426076.cms, [Accessed 7 May, 2023].

[3] D. T. Kofinas, A. Spyropoulou, and C. S. Laspidou, “A methodology for synthetic household water consumption data generation,” Environmental Modelling & Software, vol. 100, pp. 48–66, 2018.

[4] A. Ojeda de la Cruz, C. R. Alvarez-Chavez, M. A. Ramos-Corella, and F. Soto-Hernandez, “Determinants of domestic water consumption in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 142, pp. 1901–1910, 2017.

[5] L. Kuski, E. Maia, P. Moura, N. Caetano, and C. Felgueiras, “Development of a decentralized monitoring system of domestic water consumption,” Energy Reports, vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 856–861, 2020.

[6] E. Li, J. Endter-Wada, and S. Li, “Characterizing and contextualizing the water challenges of megacities,” Journal of the American Water Resources Association, vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 589–613, 2015.

[7] P. J. Moya-Fernandez, S. Lopez-Ruiz, J. Guardiola, and F. Gonzalez-Gomez, “Determinants of the acceptance of domestic use of recycled water by use type,” Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol. 27, pp. 575-586, 2021.

[8] S. Dehghani, A. R. Massah Bavani, A. Roozbahani, A. Gohari, and R. Berndtsson, “Towards an integrated system modeling of water scarcity with projected changes in climate and socioeconomic conditions,” Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol. 33, pp. 543-556, 2022.

[9] M. M. Mekonnen, and A. Y. Hoekstra, “Four billion people facing severe water scarcity,” Science Advances, vol. 2, no. 2, e1500323, 2016.

[10] United Nations, “2014 revision of World Urbanization Prospects, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs,” Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/2014-revision-world-urbanization-prospects.html, [Accessed May. 7, 2023].

[11] United Nations, “World populations prospects: The 2017 Revision - key findings and advanced tables,” UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/world-population-prospects-2017-revision-key-findings-and-advance-tables [Accessed May. 7, 2023]

[12] S. Lehmann, “Can rapid urbanization ever lead to low carbon cities? The case of Shanghai in comparison to Potsdamer Platz Berlin,” Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 3, pp. 1–12, 2012.

[13] X. Q. Zhang, “The trends, promises, and challenges of urbanization in the world,” Habitat International, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 241–252, 2016.

[14] K. Madani, “Water management in Iran: what is causing the looming crisis?,” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 315–328, 2014.

[15] P. Gleick, “Global freshwater resources: soft-path solutions for the 21st century,” Science, vol. 302, no. 5650, pp. 1524–1528, 2003.

[16] B. Jorgensen, M. Graymore, and K. O’Toole, “Household water use behavior an integrated model,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 91, no. 1, pp. 227–236, 2009.

[17] F. Arbues, M. Á. Garcia-Valinas, and R. Martinez-Espineira, “Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review,” Journal of Socio-Economics, vol. 32, pp. 82–102, 2003.

[18] L. Fan, L. Gai, Y. Tong, and R. Li, “Urban water consumption and its influencing factors in China: Evidence from 286 cities,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 166, pp. 124–133, 2017.

[19] A. Maleki-nasab, A. Abrishamchi, and M. Tajrishi, “Assessment of residential water conservation due to using low-flow fixtures,” Water and Wastewater, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 2–11, 2007. (In Persian)

[20] M. J. Barnett, D. Jackson-Smith, J. Endter-Wada, and M. Haeffner, “A multilevel analysis of the drivers of household water consumption in a semi-arid region,” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 712, p. 136489, 2020.

[21] Y. Liang, L. K. Henderson, and K. F. Kee, “Running out of water! Developing a message typology and evaluating message effects on attitude toward water conservation,” Environmental Communication, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 541–557, 2018.

[22] M. Suarez-Varela, “Modeling residential water demand: An approach based on household demand systems,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 261, p. 109921, 2020.

[23] G. D. Gregory, and M. D. Leo, “Repeated behavior and environmental psychology: the role of personal involvement and habit formation in explaining water consumption,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1261–1296, 2003.

[24] F. Maleki, H. Eftekhar, and S. Gholamrezaei, “Investigation the strategies for institutionalization of optimum and sustainable water consumption culture,” Second National Conference on Water Crisis, 2014.

[25] F. V. Zohouri, A. J. Rugg-Gunn, E. S. Fletcher, A. F. Hackett, P. J. Moynihan, and J. C. Mathers, “Changes in water intake of Northumbrian adolescents 1980 to 2000,” British Dental Journal, vol. 196, pp. 547–552, 2004.

[26] S. Russel, and K. Fielding, “Water demand management research: a psychological perspective,” Water Resources Research, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 1–12, 2010.

[27] J. Novak, M. Melenhorst, I. Micheel, C. Pasini, P. Fraternali and A. E. Rizzoli, “Behaviour change and incentive modelling for water saving: First results from the SmartH2O project,” In at International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (IEMSS)-8th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Toulouse, France, 2016.

[28] K. Perren, and L. Yang, “Psychosocial and behavioural factors associated with intention to save water around the home: a Greek case study,” Procedia Engineering, Vol. 119, pp. 1447–1454, 2015.

[29] Y. Shan, L. Yang, K. Perren, and Y. Zhang, “Household water consumption: Insight from a survey in Greece and Poland,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 119, pp. 1409–1418, 2015.

[30] A. Cominola, M. Giuliani, D. Piga, A. Castelletti, and A. E. Rizzoli, “Benefits and challenges of using smart meters for advancing residential water demand modeling and management: A review,” Environmental Modelling & Software, vol. 72, pp. 198–214, 2015.

[31] B. Guragai, T. Hashimoto, K. Oguma, and S. Takizawa, “Data logger-based measurement of household water consumption and micro-component analysis of an intermittent water supply system,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 197, no. 1, pp. 1159–1168, 2018.

[32] C. Felgueiras, L. Kuski, P. Moura, and N. Caetano, “Water consumption monitoring system for public bathing facilities,” Energy Procedia, vol. 153, pp. 408–413, 2018.

[33] A. R. Keshavarzi, M. Sharifzadeh, A. A. Kamgar Haghighi, S. Amin, Sh. Keshtkar, and A. Bamdad, “Rural domestic water consumption behavior: A case study in Ramjerd area, Fars province, I.R. Iran,” Water Research, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1173–1178, 2006.

[34] J. Straus, H. Chang, and C. Hong, “An exploratory path analysis of attitudes, behaviors and summer water consumption in the Portland Metropolitan Area,” Sustainable Cities & Society, vol. 23, pp. 68–77, 2016.

[35] I. B. Addo, M. C. Thoms, and M. Parsons, “The influence of water‑conservation messages on reducing household water use,” Applied Water Science, vol. 9, no. 126, 2019.

[36] S. A. Shahangian, M. Tabesh, and M. Yazdanpanah, “Psychosocial determinants of household adoption of water-efficiency behaviors in Tehran capital, Iran: Application of the social cognitive theory,” Urban Climate, vol. 39, p. 100935, 2021.

[37] S. A. Shahangian, M. Tabesh, M. Yazdanpanah, T. Zobeidi, and M. A. Raoof, “Promoting the adoption of residential water conservation behaviors as a preventive policy to sustainable urban water management,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 313, p. 115005, 2022.

[38] M. Yang, H. Chen, R. Long, and J. Yang, “The impact of different regulation policies on promoting green consumption behavior based on social network modeling,” Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol. 32, pp. 468–478, 2022.

[39] G. M. Bethke, A. R. Cohen, and A. S. Stillwell, “Emerging investigator series: disaggregating residential sector high-resolution smart water meter data into appliance end-uses with unsupervised machine learning,” Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 487-503, 2021.

[40] R. Q. Grafton, M. B. Ward, H. To, and T. Kompas, “Determinants of residential water consumption: Evidence and analysis from a 10-country household survey,” Water Resources Research, vol. 47, no. 8, 2011.

[41] P. Okutan, and A. Akkoyunlu, “Identification of water use behavior and calculation of water footprint: a case study,” Applied Water Science, vol. 11, no. 127, 2021.

[42] E. A. Wolters, “Attitude–behavior consistency in household water consumption,” The Social Science Journal, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 455–463, 2014.

[43] Z. Zabihi-Ghelichi, J. Tajik and M. S. Pishvaee, “Novel robust optimization approach for an integrated municipal water distribution system design under uncertainty: A case study of Mashhad,” Computers and Chemical Engineering, vol. 110, pp. 13–34, 2018.

[44] S. Maleki, M. Akhavan, and M. Nafti, “Reconciling a city with its natural identify (the role of water systems in Mashhad city sustainable planning),” Procedia Environmental Sciences, vol. 34, pp. 559–572, 2016.

[45] M. Atashi, K. Davari, and M. B. Sharifi, “Simulation of the integrated appropriation of surface water and underground drinking water in Mashhad,” Water and Wastewater, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 23–34, 2016. (In Persian)

[46] F. Abbaspoor, M. Jalili-Ghazizadeh, and J. Attari, “Impacts of targeted subsidy act on urban water consumption in city of Mashhad,” Water and Wastewater, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 65–73, 2017. (In Persian)

[47] T. A. Brown, Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research. New York: Guilford Press, 2006.

[48] M. Kadkhodaei, “Analysis and evaluation of the optimal pattern of urban water consumption in touristic metropolises using regression method and multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM)_Case study: Mashhad city,” M. S. thesis, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 2019.

[49] R. B. Kline, Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (third ed.). New York: Guilford Press, 2010.

[50] R. Shah, and S. M. Goldstein, “Use of structural equation modeling in operations management research: Looking back and forward,” Journal of Operations Management, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 148-169, 2006.