Urban water consumption in Israel: convergence or divergence?

Urban water consumption in Israel is on the rise. However, the direction of change differs by consumption sector. In the domestic sector, per capita water use tends to grow faster in ‘thinly’ consuming places than in localities with high per capita rates of water consumption, indicating that water consumption rates tend to converge over time. Concurrently, in the non-residential sector (municipal consumption), water consumption tends to diverge, with heavily water-consuming places raising their per capita water consumption rates more rapidly. According to the explanation proposed, the observed convergence trend in the domestic sector is likely to stem from two major factors—the saturation of water consumption in affluent places, and the rising standards of living in poor localities, enabling them to consume more water for household use. Recent improvements in the level of infrastructure development in the peripheral areas of the country may have also contributed to the convergence of water consumption rates for domestic use.