Individualized metering and the influence of other endogenous and exogenous factors on water consumption in social housing

ABSTRACT Individual water metering allows consumers to pay for the water volume actually consumed, promoting the efficient use of water resources. This case study aims to evaluate the impact of consumption billing based on individual water meters in a social housing complex in the city of Joinville, southern Brazil. The residential complex under study consists of 20 four-story buildings with four units per floor, each with a floor area of 40.17 m2. Statistical analyses were conducted in 158 households, whose residents agreed to participate in the interview stage. Data were collected over a period of 1,429 days. The water billing system was initially based on a collective consumption meter, with subsequent apportionment of the consumption charges between the households. An individual billing system was then implemented, using one water consumption meter per household. The impact of individual water billing on the water consumption data from the households in the sample was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney nonparametric test, and Prais–Winsten regression model. The results showed that the water billing system influences the per capita water consumption in the social housing complex under analysis.