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Improving the estimation of volumetric water sales for billing
Author(s) -
Donkor Emmanuel A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.5942/jawwa.2013.105.0140
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , estimation , population , regression analysis , business , socioeconomic status , water consumption , variable (mathematics) , econometrics , environmental economics , statistics , economics , environmental science , water resource management , mathematics , environmental health , medicine , mathematical analysis , social science , management , sociology
This article considers the managerial problem of estimating volumetric water sales for purposes of billing when consumption data are deficient and when a water utility operates in a heterogeneous urban environment characterized by diverse socioeconomic features. A dummy variable regression model was developed and used to assess how housing sector affects residential water consumption when the former is moderated by number of households and resident population for a customer account. Results show that spatial variation in residential water consumption exists and that both resident population and number of households are significant determinants. This implies that commercial managers of water utilities should consider service location when estimating average volumetric water sales for billing purposes.