Curbing the Summer Surge: Permanent Outdoor Water Use Restrictions in Humid and Semiarid Cities

Abstract

As urban droughts make headlines across the globe, it is increasingly relevant to critically evaluate the long‐term sustainability of both water supply and demand in the world's cities. This is the case even in water‐rich regions, where upward swings in water demands during periods of hot, dry weather can aggravate already strained water supplies and increase cities' vulnerability to water shortage. Summer spikes in water demand have motivated several cities to impose permanent restrictions on outdoor water uses; however, little is yet known about their effectiveness. This paper examines daily water production data from 15 Canadian cities to (1) quantify how overall and seasonal demands are evolving over time across humid and semiarid settings and (2) determine whether permanent water use restrictions have been effective in curbing summer water demands both seasonally and during specific hot and dry periods. Results show that while per‐capita water demand is declining in all cities studied, the seasonal distribution of that demand has remained largely stable in all but a few cases. While average demands in the summer months remain largely unaffected by the imposition of permanent restrictions, cities that enforce stringent limits on outdoor water use have seen a reduction in the variability of daily demands and a decline in peak demands following their implementation. During short‐term periods of exceptionally hot and dry weather when vulnerability to water shortage is most acute, cities with strict restrictions also see smaller surges in demand than those with weaker or no restrictions in place.

Spatial estimation of actual evapotranspiration over irrigated turfgrass using sUAS thermal and multispectral imagery and TSEB model

“…These landscapes provide benefits to society by contributing environmental and human health attributes (Maas et al 2009;Braun et al 2022a). However, urban turfgrass is negatively affected by increasing water scarcity caused by human demands and limited water supplies (Finley and Basu 2020;Braun et al 2022b) and landscape water requirements can account for 40 -75% of total municipal water use (Maupin et al 2022). An 18-hole golf course, for example, has a median water use estimated at 11798 m 3 ha -1 per year or nearly 4 acre-feet which translates to approximately 1.3 million gallos per acre in the arid and warm Southwest United States (Gelernter et al 2015).…”

Homeowner perceptions of watering restriction scenarios in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area

“…Broadly, watering restrictions have been found to be effective at lowering outdoor water usage modestly in water-scarce environments (Boyer et al, 2018;Maggioni, 2015). Consistently implemented short/long-term or permanent restrictions have been shown to be effective, while restrictions that are inconsistent in timing and implementation have been less effective (Finley & Basu, 2020;Hayden & Tsvetanov, 2019). While watering restrictions have had success, their effectiveness varies depending on the form they take.…”

“…Traditional yards, even in water-scare areas are dominated by turfgrass, which can be a significant source of strain on water resources (Groffman et al, 2014;Wheeler et al, 2017). Significant increases in water usage for lawn watering can occur during summertime across both water-scarce and nonscarce areas (Chini & Stillwell, 2018;Finley & Basu, 2020). In one study, lawn watering accounted for between 64 and 84% of total yard water use in a water-scarce area (Litvak & Pataki, 2017).…”

Hydrological Modeling of Artificial Recharge of Groundwater for Sustainable Water Supply in Dodoma City

“…Various places, especially those found in semi-arid areas where the primary water source is groundwater, always experience water shortage [3]. The problem hits more in cities and towns where demand is more significant than supply due to increased population [4][5][6][7][8][9]. In Africa, water security is an issue in almost all dimensions like affordability, accessibility, and acceptability, especially to people living in large cities and towns where the population is overgrowing [10].…”