Variability in Consumption and End Uses of Water for Residential Users in Logan and Providence, Utah, US

Variations in water fixtures and appliances coupled with different routines and preferences of users result in high levels of variability in residential water consumption. This study assessed differences in residential water use in terms of the timing and distribution of end uses across residential properties. Past studies analyzing residential end use of water have collected data for periods of time that may prevent the observation of temporal variations in indoor and outdoor water use practices. We examined indoor and outdoor residential water use at the household level by analyzing four to 23 weeks of 4-s resolution water use data at 31 single family residential properties in Logan and Providence, Utah, between 2019 and 2021. We identified and classified end uses of water for each property and analyzed monthly water use records to understand how water use varied for users at different levels of consumption. Our results indicated that indoor water use is influenced more by frequency of use than by the characteristics of water fixtures. At sites with longer data collection periods, indoor water use volume, timing, and distribution across end uses varied across homes and across weeks for which we collected data, indicating that short duration data collection intervals used by past studies may not have adequately characterized these variables. The paper presents opportunities to conserve water indoors and outdoors by adopting more efficient fixtures (particularly toilets) and promoting conservation behaviors. All the data and tools used in this study are freely available online for reuse.