EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF RESIDENTIAL WATER AUDITS

The residential water audit program conducted by the Contra Costa Wate r District of Concord, Calif., in the summer of 1989 was evaluated to determine savings as average gallons per day per account (gpd/account) by three estimation procedures: (1) the constructed comparison group, (2) direct estimation, and (3) statistical modeling. The 1989 residen tial audit program was estimated to have yielded average savings of ab out 30 gpd/account (or 6 percent) from September 1989 through August 1 990, resulting in aggregate savings of about 10 mil gal. These estimat es are similar to those obtained from the residential audit program co nducted in Concord in 1988 and from evaluation of similar audits condu cted in Pasadena and Novato, Calif. A number of recommendations were m ade on the basis of the audit findings.