A sectorial analysis of municipal water consumption and management in Saudi Arabia

• Autores: Musaad Abdulaziz Alhudaithi
• Directores de la Tesis: Ricardo Cobacho Jordán (dir. tes.), Francisco Arregui de la Cruz (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de València ( España ) en 2023
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Maddi Garmendia Antin (presid.), Elvira Estruch Juan (secret.), Francesc Josep Gavara Tortes (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería del Agua y Medioambiental por la Universitat Politècnica de València
• Materias:
  • Ciencias tecnológicas
    • Tecnología de la construcción
      • Abastecimiento de agua
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: RiuNet
• Resumen

  • The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing substantial economic, industrial, commercial, and population growth. This growth, in turn, leads to increased water demand in the region. In addition to population growth, industrialization and modernization have placed increasing pressure on KSA's water infrastructure. There is an urgent need to increase the water capacity to meet the projected demand and maintain the water systems' security and reliability. Therefore, it is imperative to find solutions that improve the efficiency of the Kingdom's water system. A key element in this effort is understanding and classifying how water is consumed with its micro-components within various segments.

    The thesis aims to collect precise knowledge about municipal water consumption patterns and trends to understand water consumption patterns and consumer behaviours better and develop preliminary estimates and assumptions. This will drive the municipal water demand model in KSA to be capable of dealing with different scenarios and constraints.

    The development of the municipal water demand model highlighted the need for reliable statistical and water billing data. These form the starting point of the forecast and need to be available at a high enough resolution. The model provides a framework for the required data to be built on further. The analysis results will also determine the drivers and categories used in the model.

    The model focuses on the non-Residential water demand. Still, separate forecasts are included for the residential category to enable the extrapolation of the results and downward analysis for a more accurate and cost-effective bottom-up approach to forecasting and an overall better understanding of the population's water consumption behaviours.