Freshwater consumption in Kuwait: analysis and forecasting

With the rapid growth of population coupled with increasing urbanization and agriculture, the demand for water in Kuwait is continually on the increase. The main water source in the State of Kuwait is from desalination with small quantities from underground aquifers. The objective of this research is to analyse and forcast water consumption in Kuwait. Therefore, consumption and other related data were collected randomly from different households within Kuwait. Total water consumption in Kuwait has increased from 255 × 10⁶ imperial gallons (1.159 × 10⁶ m³) in 1954 to 102 × 10⁹ imperial gallons (463.7 × 10⁶ m³) in 2003, which represents a 400-fold increase. The government of Kuwait heavily subsidizes water production. While 1,000 imperial gallons (4.546 m³) of water costs the Ministry of Energy (MOE) KD3.21 (US$11.00) to produce, the customer is charged KD0.8 (US$2.72) for it. Predictions of future water consumption would help the government in its efforts to reform its subsidy policy. Results of the analyses indicated that there is considerable waste of fresh water by the average Kuwaiti household. The paper concludes with useful remarks to both the Minsitry of Energy (MOE) and the citizens of Kuwait on water usage rationalization.