Abstract
Water use is one of the most basic and essential needs for human survival. The amount of residential water use differs substantially depending on distinct features of various regions and countries. These discrepancies arise due to features such as the amount of precipitation and freshwater resources, the condition of waterworks infrastructure, lifestyle, and the economic level. In this paper, we developed a tool using socio-economic variables (e.g. population size, spread of technology) to help us estimate and project current and future residential water use. We applied this tool to five Asian countries (Japan, China, India, South Korea, and Vietnam) and estimated water use in 2005 and 2050 for each country. As a result, we gained satisfactory estimates for per capita residential water use in 2005 in comparison to other similar researches. The projected data for 2050 showed an increase of 30-50% in per capita residential water use in developing countries. We concluded that water use in developed countries such as Japan and South Korea will decrease due to the spread of water-saving appliances, whereas in developing countries such as China, India and Vietnam water use will increase as a result of population growth and the spread of flush toilets.
