| Author | Ornuma Thongniramol |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-99-11 |
| Subject(s) | Water consumption--Thailand--Rayong
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of
Science. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The rapid growth of cities in developing countries has led an even more rapid growth in
the demand for urban water supply. New future water sources are traditionally considered
as the alternative way to deal with this growing demand. However due to the far distances
and expensive costs to develop these sources, water demand side management is emerged
as an alternative method to address this demand by focusing on water saving practices of
the customers. There are few studies on Asian cities regarding demand side management.
Nakorn Rayong Municipality, one of the fast growing cities in the eastern part of
Thailand and located in Rayong province is selected as a case. It is experiencing rapid
population growth due to a large number of internal migration of temporary job-seekers
as its location is closed to the famous Map Ta Phut industrial estate. This results in fast
depletion and degradation of water resources. Moreover, the existing reservoirs are used
not only for within the province, but also for the adjacent province. Because the major
group of customer in the municipality is residential sector, the survey looks through it as
the possible pa1t which can lead to successful demand side management.
The main purpose of the study is to examine the current water consumption and water
consciousness of the residential sector and recommend plans for implementing demand
side management by looking at problems and lessons learned from a retrofit program
implemented by the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority in 1995. Water consumption
patterns regarding toilet use and shower are comprehensively examined since they
contribute to major p01tion of consumption in residential areas.
The results show that age, household size and income characteristics significantly
affected water consumption. Moreover, the comparison between water use during
weekdays and weekends also presents the crucial differences. Currently environmental
awareness campaigns are applied in the municipality, but it is proved that they are not
effective enough. Therefore, some more demand side management techniques are
proposed including financial incentives i.e. rebates for purchasing devices for higher
income groups, subsided prices of devices for low income group and tariff structure
based on household size. The improvement will set up that amount of water for basic
needs in comparison between with and without devices installed. Lower tariff will be
offered to households that install devices, while very high tariff will be charged for
households that consume water more than the set limit. This improvement will balance
the interest of PW A and households in the sense that PW A can earn more revenue from
excess use, and households have an alternative to install devices with some incentives.
Environmental education is strongly recommended to be practiced as it is the cheapest
way of environmental information dissemination. The complete demand side
management will result in postponing of the future deficit and less amount of wastewater
and also less costs related with wastewater treatment' operation and maintenanace. The
results of the study will also be useful for all other provinces in Thailand. |
| Year | 2000 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Sathasivan, Arumugam; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Amin, A.T.M. Nurul;Gengaje,Rajan K. ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Self-Support;Canadian International Development Agency;Canadian Universities Consortium; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2000 |