An Agent-based behavioral simulation model for residential water demand management: The case-study of Tehran, Iran

One of the main parts of urban water consumption is residential water use. In this paper, a new framework based on agent-based modeling is introduced to simulate the behavioral characteristics of residential water users and their social interactions. The proposed framework, as a decision making tool, can be used for evaluating responses of domestic water users to some factors such as social consciousness about hydrologic conditions, water pricing, and advertising policies as well as social interactions and communications. To illustrate the practical utility of the framework, it is applied to the western part of Tehran metropolitan city in Iran. The results show that increasing water price and investing on advertisement can be considered as effective strategies for managing residential water consumption in the study area.