A Methodology for Surveying Domestic Water Consumption

By K. EDWARDS, BSc, CEng, MICE (Member) and L. MARTIN, MA, FGS (Member)*

programme was that of the National Metering Trials()which took place between 1989 and 1993 in This paper describes the experimental design and twelve locations, mostly in southern and central engineering of the largest contemporary survey of England. Other long-term studies had been undertaken by domestic water consumption in the UK. Results are presented for the first full year of data collection and South West Water(*)and Severn Trent Wated3).Howare discussed in terms of explanatory variables, relia- ever, none of these was able to provide Anglian Water bility and usefulness. Significant findings include (a) with the specific information required because, the range ofper capita consumption, (b) relationships although these studies may have been representative to explanatory variables, (c) components of consump- of their own area, they failed to provide data which tion including legitimate night flows, and (d) the con- could be reliably transferred to the region of East Anglia. The National Metering Trials were not estabtributiyns of specific domestic appliances. Key words: Consumption; demand; domestic use; leakage; lished to be studies of domestic consumptionper se, and the regional studies in South West and Severn metering; night flows; tariffs; water consumption. Trent Water were only statistically relevant to their respective regions. INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT Since privatization, a key element of water companies concerns has been the charging method which should be adopted for domestic customers. Options for charging depend upon a detailed knowledge of customer water use, accurate forecasting of future demands and the temporal and spatial variability, together with their causes, which underlie these patterns. Reviews of existing studies confirmed the opinion that the Anglian region was unique within the UK in terms of climatic and, above all, socio-economic parameters. No current analysis provided the necessary data which the company required; therefore a five-year study was sanctioned to examine both the components and the variability o f domestic consumption within East Anglia. This paper examines the engineering behind this survey and presents results for the first full twelve months of data. The survey is known by its acronym SODCON. BACKGROUND OTHER STUDIES In the late 1980s, many studies were addressing, both directly and indirectly, the issue of domestic metering and domestic consumption. The most well-known REGIONAL SPECIFICS The East Anglian region is unique in the UK. Climatically, it has the most continental climate of the U K its soils are mostly derived from quaternary deposits with a high percentage of glacial gravels and sands, and there is an unusual mixture of heavy clays adjacent to very light sands/sandy loams. From a socio-economicperspective, the region is one of high growth potential (albeit latent in the 198Os/early 1990s) and net population migrational influx. As such, East Anglia does not possess the same econogeographical structure as any other part of the UK. No water consumption studies were available which could explain the likely pattern of domestic water use in this part o fthe country. It was therefore decided that the investment, which was required in establishing a full survey of domestic consumption in the East Anglian region, would be justified. In 1991, approval was given to the undertaking of the comprehensive survey of domestic water consumption, known as SODCON.
OBJECTrVES

The main purpose of the survey was to aid the selection of Anglian Waters future charging method and to enable the company to manage its water resources to meet future demands. SODCON was therefore designed to provide the following information:
(i) An explanation of the factors that determine unmeasured water demand; (ii) Details of the patterns of water consumption across different household, soil, climatic and socioeconomic types;

This paper was presented for discussion at a meeting of the East Anglian Branch, held on 11 May 1994. *Customer Services Support Manager (and SODCON Project Manager) and Marketing Development Manager, respectively, Anglian Water, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK.
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EDWARDS AND MARTIN ON

(iii) Estimates of demand responses to different tariff structures, analysing the effects arising from different charging options; (iv) Detailed costs of metering; (v) Aggregate estimates of per capita consumption for use in demand forecasting and investment appraisal; and (vi) Estimates of leakage, legitimate night use and the development of an economic leakage control model. (d) Older terraced housing; (e), 0, (g) Council housing (three categories); (71) High-status non-family areas; ( i ) Affluent suburban housing; and 0 ) Better-off retirement areas.

SPECIFIC STUDIES
Within the sample of 2000 households a sub-set of one hundred was selected for special investigation. These were known as the Golden 100 and each property therein had, in addition to its external meter, every separate water-using appliance monitored individually at its point of use. To further develop Anglians understanding of the effects of metering on demand, a further 1000 customers were recruited. These customers were already paying for their water on a measured basis, by meter. They undertook the same socio-economic interviews, but their meters were read manually at a monthly fiequency and their patterns of consumption were compared with the SODCON database.

As an added benefit, the company would obtain valuable experience in the field of public relations and gain a substantial database of socio-economic information in respect of its domestic customers.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN SAMPLING

For the survey to be statistically robust it had to identify all the characteristics which were likely to explain variations in consumption. A sample of approximately two thousand households was chosen for the 1 1 1 survey. They all had meters and data loggers installed externally, as detailed below. This is a relatively small sample in relation to the 1.4 million unmeasured households in the region, and it was recognized that a random distribution would not give sufficient confidence. A structured, stratified approach was therefore selected. It was decided to sample households in clusters, divided into divisional sub-samples according tcr the balance of population in each, and stratified by ACORN (A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods). ACORN is a geodemographic classification system for small aread4),which classifies enumerate districts (EDs) according to simitarity across selected census variables. The sampled clusters were allocated to 50 public water supply zones picked as areas within which these households were located. Each zone was checked to ensure that all climatic and soil types, typical of the region as a whole, were represented. This segmentation would allow for the significance of garden watering to be measured. A Similar check was made to locate sites with pipework of differing 5ges and buried in differing soil types. In the Anglian region it was determined that there were three climatic zones where rainfall tended to be heavy, medium or light. Similarly there were three soil types; heavy (clay), medium (chalk) or light (sandy). The age of the network was classified as pre-war, 1950s, 1970s and modern. It was felt that there would be sufficient correlation between age and pipeline materials, therefore no fiuther subdivisions were made. The ACORN classifications which were used for the sample were consolidated into eight groups:
(u) Housing in agncultural areas;

PROJECT ENGINEERING TIMESCALE

The overall project has been planned to run for five years. The first year was used for setting up and engineering the project, and the remaining four years are being used for collecting data and carrying out analysis. Table I lists important dates and actions.
TABLE I. KEYDATES IN SODCON PROGRAMME
Action

I Dates
Jul, Aug 1991 Oct, Nov, Dec 1991; Jan, Feb, Mar 1992 Nov, Dcc 1991; Jan, Feb, Mar 1992 Feb, Mar, Apl 1992 May, Jun, JuI1992 May, Jun, Aug, Sept 1992 May, Jun, Jul 1992 May, June, Jul, Aug, Sept 1992 Oct, Nov, Dec I99 1; Jan, Fcb, Mar, Apl, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept 1992

Pilot 2000 volunteers

1855 meter units installed in highway 145 internal meters installed 63 mains meters installed for leakagi Install meters and telemetry to G100 Socio-economic questionnaire completed Property and appliance survey completed Build input and output data programmes

MANPOWER
Seven full-time staff are employed on the project and two contractors are engaged to read meters and data loggers and change meters when necessary. In addition, they also carry out any plumbing maintenance i-equired in the so-called Golden 100 houses. The staff comprise a market research coordinator, based at AWS regional headquarters, and four market research officers, one in each Division. The latter are
JCIWEM, 1995,9, October

(b) Modem family housing, higher income bracket; (c) Older housing of intermediate status;

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A METHODOLOGYFOR SURVEYING DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION

responsible for most of the activities in their divisions and manage their stand-alone computer databases. A systems analyst programmer and a principal engineer specializing in telemetry systems are also members of the team. Economic consultants have been engaged to advise on the project design and to analyse the data.

PILOT STUDY
A pilot study was designed to gauge customer reaction to an in-depth study of domestic water consumption and two questionnaires were used, one in the form of a diary of water use and the other for socioeconomic information. The pilot study was carried out in the Northampton area for a period of six weeks during the months of July and August 1991. Fifty households who were already paying their water charges on a metered basis took part in the study. The volunteers meters were read manually four times each day for the duration of the pilot, then the diary and socio-economic data were matched to the meter readings to establish if there was any correlation of water use. The following lessons were learned from the pilot study:
There was sufficient evidence to justify carrying out the full survey; People generally were interested in how water was used and were willing to join in the survey. Of the people contacted to take part in the pilot study, 50% agreed to participate; Volunteers were not aware of the project in advance, and a substantialamount of time was spent explaining what the survey was all about; Customers were far more receptive to talking to staff in uniform and using a clearly marked Anglian Water vehicle than to staff not in uniform and using unmarked private vehicles; Volunteers were reluctant to give details of their earnings because the questions were too specific; and Diary forms were not completed accurately because volunteers had to fill in too much detail.

water services. The meters have been mainly sited in the highway at the boundary to the properties but, when shared Services were identified, some meters were installed at the point where the services split within the boundaries of the property - mostly in the gardens. However, 145 meters were installed inside properties because it was impossible to fit these satisfactorily outside. Pulsed meters which provided a pulse for every litre of flow were chosen for the project. Three types of domestic meters were chosen:
(i) Schlumberger P40s (installed outside properties); (ii) Kent pulsed output meters (installed inside properties at the stop-tap position); and (iii) Andrae Leonberg turbine (used inside homes at every point of use).

The following action was taken to address the problems which were identified in the pilot study:
Information leaflets about the project were prepared and sent out with a mail shot in advance of calling on propective volunteers; A decision was made that the market research officers would wear a uniform and use clearly marked Anglian Water vehicles; The diary form was made more user-friendly,as a tick sheet, to improve accuracy; and The socio-economic questionnairewas altered to give wider earning bands.

The loggers which were used to collect the meterreading data from the Schlumberger and Kent meters were Newlog Universal loggers supplied by Technolog Ltd. These loggers record the flow of water (in litres) every 15 mins and can hold up to three months data. The loggers are down-loaded to disk using Toshiba computers by the meter readers, then the disks are sent to headquarters for processing. Datavalidation rules have been established to determine whether the retrieved data can be accepted automatically or if the reviewer has to examine it first. For the Golden 100 properties, a Kent pulsed output meter was installed at the internal stop-tap location as a reference meter, and Andrae Leonberg meters have been fixed in positions where they are at least obtrusive to each appliance. There are, on average, fourteen meters in each household. It was important that the meters used in the Golden 100 households did not have registers that the volunteers could read and, as a result, influence the way they would normally use water. All these meters are scanned by telemetry every 15 mins using Micro Medina outstations to hold the information,then they are downloaded using PSTN lines to Anglians headquarters during the night. All the same data-validation rules apply to these households as to the other 1900;in addition, the summation of all the small meters are checked against the reference meter on a daily basis.

MAIN SODCON STUDY

Meters and Data Collection It should be remembered that the survey comprised volunteers who pay their water charges by rateable value but have agreed to have meters installed to their
J.CIWEM, 1995,9, October

Household Surveys Two types of survey have been carried out with all the volunteers; a property and appliance survey and a socio-economic survey. The property and appliance survey was carried out by the market research officers listing and numbering all rooms in the property and all water-using appliances in each room. In addition, the areas of garden which could be cultivated (or were set to lawns) were measured, as this would have an influence on garden watering. A detailed socio-economic questionnaire was compiled and carried out by the MOM organization. Questions included: numbers and ages of people in the household, their qualifications and income, and mat479

EDWARDS AND MARTIN ON

ters of hygiene (for example, how many baths did people in the household tend to have each week). The response was excellent: 94% of the households responded to the interview without the need for further requests. In addition to the surveys, all householders except the Golden 100 were asked to complete a diary of their water use for one week. This was required to try and match the water use against the meter recordings. Clipboards with appropriate proformas were given to the volunteers by the market research officers when they were carrying out the property and appliance survey for each room in the house which had water-using appliances. At the time the volunteers were asked to complete a water-use diary for one week starting the following Monday. The market research officers explained the reasons why the diaries were required and answered any queries which had been raised by the volunteers. Computer Systems The computer system has been built in two parts: an input system is used at division level and the central output system is operated at regional headquarters. A personal computer (PC) based data system with office-based and portable PCs was set up at the start of the project to handle the market research officers records, and this has been extended to allow network transfer of the data to headquarters. The input system was developed by a contract firm (Logica) and tested with live data in March 1992. Data collection from meter loggers is taken by portable PCs, and the system has been developed to allow collected data to be uploaded onto the office-based PCs and validated. It also reviews and validates data collected by telemetry. The disk space required for SODCON is about 6.5 gigabytes; approximately 3500 points are processed each day, which amounts to 3500 megabytes of data. Customer Care It was recognized at an early stage that the whole project would depend on customer care. Accordingly, it was decided that the market research officers would become the volunteers contact for any matter associated with Anglian Water, not just SODCON. They would become a name and, more importantly, a face to the volunteers. Each market research officer had a telephone and answering machine installed in their homes. At the outset, when the mail shot and pamphlet (explaining the project) was sent out to the prospective volunteers, the market research officers business card (with their office and home numbers) was included, with the request that the volunteers contact them at any time at the office or at their homes. About 60% of the volunteers are only contactable out of normal working hours, therefore it is essential that market research officers work flexible hours. Each officer is provided with a laptop computer which allows them to work from their homes and input infor480

mation to the databases without travelling to their offices. The market research officers have been trained to carry out socio-economic and social-class classification interviews, and it was essential that all interviewing was carried out in a professional manner. All questionnaire forms are hand-delivered by the market research officers so that face-to-face contact withthe volunteers is maintained. Payments are made each year to the volunteers in recognition of their cooperation and continued support. RESULTS At present, data from April 1992 to October 1993 are being used for analytical purposes. Although there will never be complete data for the whole sample of 2000 properties because of mechanical failures and some attrition, the sample is of sufficient size to give complete confidence in the data accuracy and reliability. The results, covering the period to October 1993, represent the first fully validated set of data. As such, there are several areas of work, notably leakage, where analysis is (as yet) incomplete, but the main findings are given below. PATTERNS OF USE SODCONs data for the distribution of per capita consumption (PCC) shows an average value of 145 lihead. d, but, as would be expected, there is a considerable range (Fig. 1). Monthly variations in total consumption are presented in Fig. 2, and the expected diurnal consumption patterns have been recorded; an example of this is presented in Fig. 3. Weekly flow patterns are shown in Fig. 4. A detailed analysis of flows has determined that legitimate night-time consumption (strictly speaking householdnight use, provided that underground supply pipe losses and plumbing losses can be excluded) in the region is approximately 2.5 Uproperty. h, and is normally codsistent throughout the week (Fig. 5). RELATIONSHIPS Analysis of SODCON data have provided interesting data on the following relationships between PCC and a number of variables:
(a) Household size; (6) Housing type (ACORN groups); (c) Socio-economic groupings (income bands); and (d) Rateable value of properties;

and these relationships are presented in Figs. 6-9. DETAILED PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION An analysis of the data provided by the Golden 100 volunteer households has commenced, and the
JCIWEM, 1995,9, October

A METHODOLOGYFOR SURVEYING DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION

Per capha consumption(1lhead.d)

Fig. 1. Distribution of daily per capita consumption

1504

140

1204

'"I
100

,
Oct
Nov

'

'

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Month

Fig. 2.

Daily per capita consumption (October 1992 to September 1993)

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EDWARDS AND MARTIN ON

30 i

O
0

k
6

12

18

Time of day (houn)

Fig. 3.
200

Diurnal pattern of water use

150

m
100
A

50

0
SUN MON TUE WED Day of week THU FRI
SAT

Fig. 4.

Mean daily PCC

overall pattern of appliance use is shown in Fig. 10. Many variations underlie this overall pattern, as can be seen by the comparison of two individual households (Fig. 11).

DISCUSSION QUALITY CONTROL One of the most critical aspects of all surveys of
482

domestic consumption is that of quality control. South West Water have one of the country's longest running continuous surveys of demand, and they have estimated(5)that 15% of their data set significantly alters every year, in terms of household size, occupation bands, or socio-economic status. The need to ensure that data on the sample set are sufficientlyup-to-date is an ongoing and paramount requirement, and there is a continuous recruitment drive for new volunteers. To date the current number of SODCON participants is 1929.
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A METHODOLOGYFOR SURVEYING DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION

3

2.5

E x e n
5

1.5

0.5

0
Sun Mon Tue Wed Day Thu

Fri

Sat

Fig. 5.

Night-time consumption per property

Naturally there has been some attrition to the SODCON sample. Approximately 7% of the sample have already moved house and there have been births and deaths. In addition, a number of households have elected to pay their water charges by volume, but new households will continue to be included to maintain the sample of approximately 2000 households. Regular up-date questionnaires will be asked of the volunteers
250

to maintain accuracy of PCC and socio-economic trends.

OF USE

The figures for per capita consumption show the expected wide range of values about the mean of 145 l/head.d. All observations have been included in the

200

150
U

1
a C
100

50

0
1 2

Number in household

Fig. 6.
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Mean PCC by household size

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EDWARDS AND MARTIN ON

180 160 140
120

u c a l

100

3
0

80

60 40

20

0
A

E
ACORN

Fig. 7.

Mean PCC by ACORN classification

160

155

150

1
f

145

140

135

130
LOW

High Household income

Fig. 8.

Mean PCC by household income

I

analysis, although some are clearly outliers. The average value for PCC accords with the estimate for domestic consumption used by Anglian Water and aligns with other companies data but, for the reasons given earlier, it would be wrong to draw any close
484

comparisons with other studies. SODCON was originally designed to meet Anglians needs alone, but it is reassuring that the data also appears to be representative of other areas. However, it must be recognized that SODCON proJ.CIWEM, 1995,9, OLhber

A METHODOLOGY FOR SURVEYING DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION

250-

200-

Lowest

Highest

RV bands

Fig. 9.

Mean annual household consumption by RV band

larly wet and dull. Very little, if any, garden watering was carried out during the first period of the SODCON survey. Rainfall in the period July 1992 to March 1994 has been 129%of the long-term average in East Anglia - a period of increased wetness of the same return period (16&200 years) as the drought which preceded it; therefore no inferences should be drawn about longterm domestic consumption from these data.

vides actual consumption data, and these patterns are influenced by dynamic variables such as weather and the economy. No-one would expect the period October 1992 to September 1993 to be typical. The economic recession will have had an impact on domestic demand, both in terms of absolute levels of consumptionand the timing of water use. The summer of 1993 was spectacu-

Toilets

External use
3%

Washing machine 12%

Toilet

32%

Luxury app;y

Baths showers 17% and

Showers
4%

Baths

13%

w
WATER FACTS 1992

Miscellaneous

35%

SODCON DATA NOV 92 OCT 93

Fig. 10.
LCIWEM, 1995,9, October

Composition of water use

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EDWARDS AND MARTIN ON

PROPERTY A PROPERTY B

Washing machine hot 2%

Dishwasher mld
* I

5%

Bath mid 2%

19%

TOTAL FLOW. 180 m3

TOTAL FLOW: 127 m3

Fig. 11.

Examples of water use by individual properties (November 1992-October 1993)

TABLE I I . AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF NIGHT-TIME USE (OlO(M400 HOURS)

Washing machine Dishwasher Toilet Bath Showerioutside tap 49.9% 29.9% 19.5% 0.6% Trace

The higher-than-expectedlevel of legitimate nighttime consumption led to hrther analysis. Although the standard deviation of these results was high, as would be expected (since some houses use no water at night, and others use a considerable amount), the large sample size (1624 for this exercise) means that the standard error of the estimate is low (0.06 Vproperty. h), and the sample mean lies within 5% of the population mean with 95% confidence. An analysis of appliance use at night shows that washing machines use half of all water used (Table 11). An analysis of peak hourly flow indicates that the only appliance which has its peak flow at night is the dishwasher, which may indicate a correlation between ownership of these appliances and use of economy electricity tariffs. Other appliances have their peak flows as might be expected from behavioural patterns (Table 111).
RELATIONSHIPS

ing of consumption patterns. The most significant factor is household size, which also affects the variability of per property consumption more than any other single parameter. ACORN groupings indicate maximum PCC values in classes A (agricultural villages) and J (affluent suburban houses), and the lowest PCC is in ACORN class F (council) - all of which is not surprising.The patterns of PCC against income and property RV also exhibit the expected trends, the higher consumption in the lowest RV band (less than &40pa) being due to the relatively highper capita consumption in small, low-RV properties occupied by a single person.

EFFECT OF METERING ON CONSUMPTION

There is a wealth of opinion available on the effect of metering on consumption, but there is very little evidence. Overseas studies offer a wide range of possibilities but their relevance to UK, let alone the Anglian region, is quesiionable. The National Metering Trials reported that the effect ranged from a slight increase to

TABLE I U . PEAKAPPLIANCE FLOWS AND THEJR TIMING

Appliance Total flow Washing machine Dishwasher Bath Shower Toilet Outside tap Average peak flow Timing of peak 08:15 10:45 03:15 18:45 07:30
OR00

(W
32.0 9.8 5.2 10.1 5.4 12.6 1.2
~~

The relationship between per capita consumption and the various parameters presented in Figs. 6-9 are providing useful infomation towards an understand486

13:30
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a fall of 17%; the average reduction in use was 1l%(). Evidence from SODCON has provided Anglian Water with a unique opportunity to develop robust estimates of the demand effect. It compares the consumption of approximates 1000 households who pay on a measured tariff with the consumption of the unmeasured SODCON households. The reported results (of an implied estimate of 15%) should be regarded as preliminary, although they represent a considerable improvement upon estimates from elsewhere, and further work will be carried out as more information becomes available.

CON can also help customers to influence their own water bills. 3. The projects greatest asset, however, is undoubtedly the enormous data base of (as yet) untapped information, which will be analysed and investigated in future years, assisting in such tasks as longterm forecasting, tariff setting and demand management.

REFERENCES
(1) NATIONAL METERJNG TRIALS WORKING GROUP. Water Metering Trials: Final Report. (Eds M. Hall and I. Kalsi.) WSA, WCA, OFWAT, WRc and DOE, 1993. (2) HOOPER, B. A survey of domestic water consumption in Devon and Comwall. Proc. Royal Statistical Society Conf, April 1979. J. E., COCKER, V., AND ARCHIBALD, G. G. The (3) THACKRAY, Malvem and Mansfield studies of domestic water usage. Proc. Instn. Civ. Engrs., 1978,64, (l),3 7 4 1 . (4) CACIINFORMATION SERVICES. 1981. (5) MOORE, C. J. Personal communication.

WAY FORWARD
SODCON is already providing a vast amount of data for analysis, but some areas still need to be developed. There is a need to examine distribution losses, and SODCON can provide, through its water delivered data, excellent information on part of the water loss balance. Further work needs to be carried out to ensure compatibility between the meter readings on both research meters and the individual property meters. Having successfully measured domestic water consumption, monitoring sewage flows from properties is one logical step forward. A complex prototype sampler/monitor has been developed and tried by Anglian Water, but it now needs to be installed in sufficient locations to provide representative data on net property water use. More applied research is needed to investigate the complicated inter-relationships between consumption and such factors as weather, soil type, distribution water pressure and geographical location, and these analyses will be continued during the remaining years of the project.

DISCUSSION (Abridged)
Mr R. Cook (Consultant), opening the discussion, asked if reference had been made to the zonal metering studies which had been carried out by Anglian Water during 1975-76, and whether there was any merit in revisiting those locations to compare consumptions. Mr B. Hayes (Consultant) said that, in his opinion, the main benefit to Anglian Water would be the reduction in consumption of 15%, which would delay the need for capital schemes. He enquired what the benefit to the customer would be, and wondered whether the company would be considering differential tariffs for night-time water use. Mr S. Whipp (WRc Swindon) asked if SODCON had provided any information on the return period probability of specific levels of water consumption from groups of properties, which might place peak demands on the distribution system. Mrs C. Ridgewell (Essex and Suffolk Water) requested an outline of the methodology used to weight the SODCON sample results to provide a regional average figure for water consumption. Mr V. Ewan (Ewan Associates) asked whether the onginal premise of SODCON (i.e. that regional specifics necessitated a separate Anglian investigation of consumption) meant that the authors now believed that all water companies should undertake similar studies, or whether the Anglian data were transportable to other parts of the country. Mr M. Pocock (Three Valleys Water) questioned the allowance made for underground supply pipe losses on the Tariff 1000 sample, which were used to derive the 15% reduction in consumption. Mr D. Evans (NRA) enquired when the authors would be able to provide estimates of consumptive use of water within the home, by means of their sewage flow monitor. Mr J. Smithson (Mott MacDonald) wondered whether the increased level of night flow would mean that Anglian Water would change its policy of mains rehabilitation as a result of this alteration to the economic balance. Mr E. Butt (Water Quality Management Ltd) asked if 487

CONCLUSIONS
1. SODCON has already proved its worth in the quality of data which it has been able to provide. Domestic consumption levels, patterns and parameters which influence them have been identified. Specific details such as night-time flows, keyappliance uses and combined flow-rates have been monitored and new areas of research have been indicated. 2. The survey is also contributing significantly to providing a better service to Anglians customers. The information is being used as a tool to educate customers as to how water is used in the home and, by .implication, how it can be conserved. As an understanding of components of waste and supply pipe and plumbing losses is being improved, advice can be given to customers to improve the performance of their supply systems. Information from SODJ.CIWEM, 1995,9, October

A METHODOLOGYFOR SURVEYING DOMESTIC WATER CONSUMPTION detailed consumption information was given to the Golden 100 households if requested, and also whether the 2000 volunteers would be charged for their water on a measured basis at any stage in the future, to examine the effect, if any, of such a change on domestic consumption. M r D. Harris (Anglian Water) enquired if the authors were satisfied with the accuracy of the meters in use, particularly when summated in the Golden 100 properties, and Mr W. Davidson (also from Anglian Water) wondered if the detailed data available from SODCON could throw any light on problems of meter under-recording. M r M. Woolgar (WS Atkins Ltd) asked if the Golden 100 properties were fully representative of the larger sample. He also enquired whether the difference in percentage water use by washing machines in the Anglian area, compared to Waterfacts data for the country as a whole, was related to ownership or usage variations. the data vindicated the use of the SODCON exercise within Anglian Water. Moreover,because of this level of detail, and in particular the knowledge of the inherent variability of factors affecting consumption, they believed that it should be possible to apply the SODCON database to other parts of the UK and provide consumption information with a high degree of confidence. The authors repeated that no allowance had been made for underground supply pipe losses on the 1000properties in the tariff study, and acknowledged to Mr Pocock that such losses might, if undetected, affect the reduction in consumption thus estimated. It would, however, be relatively straightforward to carry out a simple test to verify this matter. The authors explained that Mr Evans would have to wait several months for sufficient samples to be collected to be able to answer his query. Given the probable higher degree of variability in water returned to sewer compared to water delivered, it was possible that the standard error of the estimate would be high. Replying to Mr Smithson, the authors doubted whether this increase in night flow, although great in percentage terms, would materially alter the rehabilitation programme, firstly since the effect on water delivered was not yet proven and secondly because the prime driver for rehabilitation schemes was water quality, not quantity. Replying to Mr Butt, the authors confirmed that, on request, details of consumption patterns were sent to the Golden 100 volunteers. The transfer of customers from unmeasured to measured charges did occur, if SODCON volunteers elected to be charged on this basis; therefore this effect could be monitored using the existing database, if necessary. The meters used in the survey were Class D (Schlumberger P40s and Kent PSMTs) or Class B (Andrae Leonberg) instruments, and the authors assured Mr Harris that they were confident that individual and cumulative accuracieswere acceptable. The square wave characteristic of flows through most point-of-use meters certainly assisted measurements; there were relatively small volumes passing at low flows. However, at this stage, the authors were unable to provide Mr Davidson with any information on characteristics of under-recording of meters from the SODCON trials. In their reply to the final questions, the authors confirmed that the Golden 100 data were indeed representative of the larger sample. They considered that the greater use of washing machines in East Anglia was related both to the larger market penetration of the appliance in the region and the great propensity of use.

Authors Reply
In reply to Mr Cook, the authors said that they had not yet attempted any measurements at the old zonal metering sites, largely due to their concern that the population base within the zones would undoubtedly have changed radically over the past 20 or so years. The turnover of volunteers in the SODCON study was about 7% per annum, therefore the applicability of the original locations and their data may not be great. Responding to Mr Hayes, they confirmed that any deferment of capital schemes would allow, ceterispparibus, for a favourable effect on charges, which would certainly benefit the customer. They commented that intelligent meters, capable of differential charges according to the time of day, were being investigated by Anglian Water in a separate study to the SODCON project. In reply to Mr Whipp, the authors explained that they had yet to cany out this particular analysis. In answering Mrs Ridgewell, they said that the general technique was to examine the contribution to the variation of the dependent variable (consumption) provided by each of the independent variables (e.g. the socio-economic,household size, and ACORN parameters which exhibited multi-collinearity) using stepwise multiple regression. Once the effect of each independent variable was known, the results could be weighted to take into account variations in characteristics of the sample which would vary through time, to arrive (hopefully) at a stable estimate of PCC across the Anglian region as a whole. Responding to Mr Ewan, the authors felt that the detail of

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J.CIWEM, 1995,9, October