Frequency analysis of water consumption for metropolitan area of Melbourne

In this paper, a procedure is developed to estimate the average recurrence interval of maximum daily (and 2, 3 and 5 consecutive days) water consumpti on for Melbourne, Australia. The method consists of three steps: calibratio n of a daily water demand simulation model for high consumption months, est imation of a water consumption time-series and then calculation of the aver age recurrence interval of the extreme events. The deterministic/probabilis tic approach of deriving the frequency curves for the Melbourne area can be used to improve water supply strategies that depend on demand estimates. ( C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.