Aim: To explore the relation between water consumption and water use behaviour and
attitudes, and devices applied in households in urban areas in India.
Methodology and study site: This paper presents the results of a domestic water consumption
survey carried out in Jaipur, India. A questionnaire containing over 60 questions was developed
to collect information on households’ characteristics (e.g. family size, household type, and
number of children), indoor and outdoor water use activities and their respective frequencies
and durations. Information was also gathered on the volume of water used in each of these
activities. Over 90 households of different types (standalone houses and apartments in a
university campus and Jaipur city) participated in the survey. The survey results were analysed
using cluster analysis.
Results: The results show that the per capita consumption varies considerably with household
type and size. The average water consumption was 183 and 215 litres/person/day for
standalone households and apartments, respectively. Water used in bathing and WC's
represent the highest proportion of water consumption in both stand-alone houses and
apartments. Over 40% of the households reported no use of showers. The per capita water
consumption is inversely related to family size especially in stand-alone houses.
Conclusion: The information pertaining to water use habits and the qualitative and quantitative
analysis can be used as an input to a proposed domestic water efficiency tool (DoWET) which
can generate optimal water efficient composite strategies keeping in view a range of
sustainability indicators including water saving potential, cost and associated energy
consumption of the water saving devices and fixtures available in India.
This paper describes work being carried out under the EC FP7-funded project: Grant agreement
no: 308496 "Water4India"