To effectively plan water infrastructure, it's essential to provide accurate data. This involves comparing the capacity of critical supply systems with the expected demand. Forecasting future water needs helps assess how well infrastructure components will perform. Understanding how water demands are generated, as well as how they can be managed or adjusted, is key to improving planning and making the system more efficient.
Demand management performs important research and data analysis, including analyzing trends in water consumption patterns and conducting long-range forecasting. It evaluates peak demands to ensure the infrastructure can support high usage and investigates methods to reduce leaks and water losses, improving overall system efficiency.
Demand management also analyses population growth and water usage to make estimates for decision making about infrastructure.
Interesting statistics:
- Current total per capita demand across the region in 2023 was ~340 litres
- Residential-only per capita demand is ~220 lcpd
- Average residential use is closer to ~190 lcpd across North America
- current residential demand accounts for 68% of total regional water use,
- ICI demand accounts for 22%,
- agricultural demand is 3%
- Summer demands are almost twice that of winter months
