Efficient water use in households

Climate change has already resulted in a shortage of water in several places in Sweden.

In addition, a lack of capacity in the drinking water supply system could lead to a shortage of drinking water regardless access to raw water. A resource-efficient use of drinking water is therefor becoming increasingly important for Sweden’s municipalities. The households are responsible for a considerable amount of the water use.

Both technical solutions and changes in behavior can reduce the use of water.

There is a need for more studies concerning the effects in practice and how solutions can be combined to effect behavior. The purpose of the project is to contribute to a resource effective use of water and to reduce the risk for a shortage.

These contributions will be done by implementing and evaluating combinations of solutions to reduce the use of water in households. This will be done through cooperation between different actors in the drinking water value chain.

In four case studies with villas and multi-family houses, established and newer technical solutions for reduced use of water will be tested in combination with communication. This will be supplemented with a set of small-scale studies which investigate more innovative solutions.

The result is analyzed from a system-perspective to understand the interaction between technical solutions, communication, and behavior. The aim is to give recommendations for how combinations of solutions can be used to reduce the use of water.