Influence of the number of residents and climatic factors on residential water consumption

Abstract

Water scarcity is becoming increasingly noticeable in large urban centers. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyze the factors that influence residential water consumption in a residential building located in the city of Goiânia, Brazil, during a pre-pandemic period of 6 months. To this end, graphical analysis, trend curves, and multiple regressions were used using the R language. The sample consisted of 43 housing units with a population of one to five people in each. Once the construction aspects of the building were fixed and the water price and the type of consumption measured, it was found that the number of residents, the monthly precipitation, and the maximum daily temperature directly influence residential water consumption. HIGHLIGHTS The increase in the number of residents of a residential apartment results in an increase in the total water consumption and a decrease in per capita consumption.; Maximum daily temperatures and the monthly rainfall were the parameters that most influenced water consumption.; A water consumption equation was proposed through the correlation between the number of consuming agents, temperature, and rainfall intensity.;

Keywords

• climatic factors
• drinking water consumption
• goiânia
• number of residents
• residential water consumption
• statistical analysis