Provides estimated water savings, benefits and costs for measures. Includes tables, charts, photos, eight appendices, glossary, and index.

This book is the result of a joint research effort led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involving the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Palestine Health Council. It discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of overexploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, the book emphasizes conservation, improved use of current technologies, and water management approaches that are compatible with environmental quality.

The American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) and 22 municipalities, water utilities, water purveyors, water districts and water providers funded this study. Goals of this research included: Providing specific data on the end uses of water in residential settings across the continent; Assembling data on disaggregated indoor and outdoor uses; Identifying variations in water used for each fixture or appliance according to a variety of factors; and Developing predictive models forecast residential water demand. This report represents a time and place snapshot of how water is used in single-family homes in twelve North American locations. Similarities and differences among 'end users' were tabulated for each location, analyzed and summarized. Great care was taken to create a statistically significant representative sample of customer for each of the twelve locations. However, these twelve locations are not statistically representative of all North American locations.

"Australia is one of the driest places on the planet. We must learn that saving water is a vital and rewarding part of living sustainably." -- cover.