Assessing the impacts of socio-economic and hydrological factors on urban water demand: A multivariate statistical approach

•A multivariate statistical approach on demographic, socio-economic and hydrological variables is proposed.•Factor analysis was applied to water consumption data.•The per connection consumption of large water consumers is decreased when marginal water prices increase.•Economic crisis in Greece has already affected the water consumption rates.

SummaryThe multivariate statistical techniques conducted on quarterly water consumption data in Mytilene reveal valuable tools that could help the local authorities in assigning strategies aimed at the sustainable development of urban water resources. The proposed methodology is an innovative approach, applied for the first time in the international literature, to handling urban water consumption data in order to analyze statistically the interrelationships among the determinants of urban water use. Factor analysis of demographic, socio-economic and hydrological variables shows that total water consumption in Mytilene is the combined result of increases in (a) income, (b) population, (c) connections and (d) climate parameters. On the other hand, the per connection water demand is influenced by variations in water prices but with different consequences in each consumption class. Increases in water prices are faced by large consumers; they then reduce their consumption rates and transfer to lower consumption blocks. These shifts are responsible for the increase in the average consumption values in the lower blocks despite the increase in the marginal prices.