Measurement and stochastic characterization of instantaneous water demand.

This paper reports an ultrafine time resolution study of real and instantaneous residential water demand behavior. Instrument packs composed of new water meters, impulse signal sensors and data loggers, able to measure and register flow every second, were installed on the service lines of three homes in the city of Culiacan, Sin. This way, the real water demand was recorded every second during 101 days (more than 8'700 000 registers per home). Water demand occurs in the form of pulses of random duration and intensity. The data were processed to obtain the statistical parameters of these pulses, Including duration, intensity and volume and their average, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. The average utilization factor (the ratio of the time water was used to the total measuring time) is between 3 and 5%. These parameters can be used in the Buchberger and Wu Poisson Rectangular Pulse (PRP) model to generate water demand series for dynamic distribution network models, and for other uses. The findings also help to define more precisely daily residential water use and to have a better understanding of real water use patterns.