Analysis on the Structure of Water Demands in Dwelling Houses of Suzhou, China

Abstract

Currently ， in China ， the condit 正 on of water shortage has becn frequently happened in city 、 The water demand in city is largely increas ¢ d and the water supply shor 【 age problem is coming out because ofthe remarkable economic deve且 opment ， the increase of populatien by urbanization and the 正 mprovement of living standard ． Then， the unbaiance problem between water supply and demand is becoming more serious ． Therefbre ， the purpose of this study is to clarify the actual situation of water usage and the water consumption in dwelling houses based on the questionnaire survey that was carried out in Suzhou ， China ． AcGording to the investigation ， the authors obtained the a じtual data that are consist of characteristics of household ， water − using faci ］ ities ， frequencies ef water usage ， consciousness fc)r water saving and liv 孟 ng envirenment ， etc ． Using the technique of multivariate analysis ， the authors ciarified the relations between factors ofwater usage and water consumption ， also clarified the mail factors having an infiuence on the level of consciousness ft)r water saving ， Where， the consciousness fbr water saving is depended mainly on the reuse perfommance of water in the bath tub． As the main factors affected the v 。 lume of 即 water cons ption ， regional difference ， quency of taking b舳 ， annual income of a family ， number of room in a house ， etc ． are mentioned ．

An Analysis of Domestic Water Demand Structure and Water Recycling in Beijing

“…Thus, water demand in summer is 1.2 times that of the winter demand. This seasonal tendency is consistent with the published data in, for example, Suzhou, China (Murakawa et al, 1999). The annual per capita water use in Tokyo is 232 L, similar to that in Beijing.…”

“…The monthly water rate for households with monthly income of less than 1,000 yuan was about 16 yuan, while that for households with a monthly income of over 1,000 yuan was 20 to 30 yuan. Previous investigations had shown that household income was proportional to the amount of water use (Murakawa et al, 1999;Zhang and Brown, 2005). In this study, the impact of income to water consumption could also be observed, although it was not so significant.…”

“…Per capita water use in each water use activity was very low in households with five or six people. Generally, the Chinese bathe in groups (Murakawa et al, 1999). It is quite likely that this factor causes the dispersal of water use for showering and foot washing.…”

“…According to Murakawa et al (1999), water use patterns differ according to the purpose of use. Proper water use practices are determined by cultural characteristics.…”