Municipal water demand management for Riyadh City, Saudi Arabi

Large cities in arid and semi-arid climates continually face problems in satisfying the demand for municipal water. Where water supplies are limited, one of the primary strategies is to conserve water use. Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia was selected as an example for minimizing water demand through conservation.;This research concentrated on developing a strategy to minimize water demand through an effective water demand management, using the Metropolitan Water District-Municipal and Industrial Needs (MWD-MAIN) model, which is one of the most recent and powerful computer models for municipal water management.;The research includes the evaluation of existing water supplies and the simulation of water use up to the year 2030. With two options of unrestricted demand, where no conservation measures are used, and restricted water demand, where some conservation measures are applied, five major conservation measures were used (public education, moderate plumbing code, advanced plumbing code, leak detection, and pricing policy).;The research reveals that the future water demand will be more than 470 MCM by the year 1995 and about 2300 MCM in the year 2030. These figures are for the unrestricted demand. Water conservation measures were simulated separately and in combination to assess the effect of all conservation measures. The simulation showed that 437 MCM and 1620 MCM will be the demand for 1995 and 2030, respectively. As a result of the water conservation measures, 8 percent will be conserved in 1995 and 29 percent in 2030. The reduction is proportional to the coverage and reduction factors of the measures.;The water conserved also will result in the reduction of effluent of wastewater where more than 24 MCM and 425 MCM can be conserved in 1995 and 2030, respectively. The water and wastewater conserved will save more than $45 million in the year 1995 and more than $800 million in the year 2030.;Water conservation measures should be considered in all sectors in order to reduce water demand. Technical, educational, pricing, institutional, and data management are recommended.