Agent-Based Residential Water Use Behavior Simulation and Policy Implications: A Case-Study in Beijing City

Authored by Jining Chen, Junying Chu, Can Wang, Hao Wang

Date Published: 2009-12

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-009-9433-2

Sponsors: Chinese National Natural Science Foundation

Platforms: Swarm

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Residential water use constitutes a major part of urban water demand, and has be gaining importance in the urban water supply. Considering the complexity of residential water use system, an agent-based social simulation, i.e. the Residential Water Use Model (RWUM), is developed in this paper to capture the behavioral characteristics of residential water usage. By disaggregating total water demands down to constituent end-uses, this model can evaluate heterogeneous consumer responses on water, taking into account the factors of market penetration of water-saving technologies, regulatory policies, economic development, as well as social consciousness and preferences. Also, uncertainty analysis technique is innovatively applied in this agent-based model for parameter calibration and model robust testing. According to the case study in Beijing, this model can provide insights to water management agency in evaluating different water usage polices, as well as estimations for potential water saving for future infrastructure development planning.

Tags

Agent-Based Social Simulation Water demand Uncertainty analysis Water consumption behavior Water policy residential water use