A study of the consumption pattern in a continuous water service demonstration zone and bulk water demand forecasting for Hubli-Dharwad, India

In the year 2008, the Karnataka Urban Water Sector (KUWS) Improvement Project brought continuous water service (CWS) to a demonstration zone in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad, India. Scale-up of CWS for the rest of the city has been authorized and the initial stages of construction are currently in progress. We compared the historical consumption pattern in the CWS demonstration zone of Hubli with system capacity. We found that demand in the demonstration zone has stayed within system capacity and below the national standards for adequate supply. We developed two forecast models of bulk water demand under CWS and compared forecasts with planned future system capacity. In the case of full scale-up of CWS to the rest of Hubli-Dharwad, our forecasts indicate that planned system capacity may be insufficient to meet bulk demand. These forecast models can be adopted by similar mid-sized cities in India.