Effect of television broadcasts of global sporting events on short-term changes in the use of water from the water supply network

The article discusses the influence of television broadcasts of global sporting events on water usage in the city of Torun during the final match of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The analyses covered accurate data of water usage (recorded every 1 minute) in the city on the day of the final match. The obtained results were compared with the data for the same days of the week (Sundays) but with no such important events. A completely different trend in water usage was documented during the television broadcast, including: exponential and short-term increases and decreases in water demand immediately after the end of the successive parts of the football match. The deviations in water usage from the normal trend for the same day of the week and the same hours ranged from –318 to more than 550 m 3 ·h −1 (calculated on an hourly basis). Therefore, water usage can be a good indicator of the interest of audiences in television programmes, particularly in those gathering millions of viewers, such as broadcasts of global sporting events.