Water use vs. socio-economic factors in a water stressed urban area having economic affluence

The paper presents household water-use data collected from a water use survey in an urban area located in a water stressed region in the Middle East. The purpose of the survey was to investigate the effect and relationships of water shortage, economic effluence and socioeconomic attributes of house holds on per capita water use in the area. Results indicated wide variation of water uses in smaller districts of the urban area. In small areas socioeconomic factors are significantly related to per capita water use. However, when total urban area is considered, same set of factors do not show any meaningful relationship to per capita water use. Water use in summer is about 2-6 times more than that in winter. Over all per capita water use in the area is recorded to be one the highest in the world.