Water Demand Management

A common characteristic of water demand in urban areas worldwide is its inexorable rise over many years; continued growth is projected over coming decades.The chief influencing factors are population growth and migration, together with changes in lifestyle, demographic structure and the possible effects of climate change (the detailed implications of climate change are not yet clear, and anyway will depend on global location, but must at least increase the uncertainty in security of supply).This is compounded by rapid development, creeping urbanization and, in some places, rising standards of living.Meeting this increasing demand from existing resources is self-evidently an uphill struggle, particularly in water stressed/scarce regions in the developed and developing world alike.There are typically two potential responses: either "supply-side" (meeting demand with new resources) or "demand-side" (managing consumptive demand itself to postpone or avoid the need to develop new resources)