ON THE ESTIMATE OF PER CAPITA WATER USE IN A MUNICIPALITY

Per capita waer use is one of the most important variables in the evaluation of amounts of water consumption and in the planning of water supply systems. The estimating procedures, that have hitherto been adopted in the past Japanese studies dealing with municiplities, are far from being justifiable. This paper discusses problems on the estimate of per capita water use, based on a case study of IchiharaShi, Chiba Prefecture. In conclusion, the follwings are emphasized for the detailed estimate of per capita water use: municipal water demands depend on the two sorts of water users, that is, residential users and users who consume a large quantity of water such as public baths, hotels, big stores and industries. These two should clearly be differentiated from each other in studies on municipal water demands. It is of importance that per capita water use is estimated on the basis of amounts of water used for just residential purposes.