Consumo sustentable de agua en viviendas de la ciudad de Cuenca

Abstract

This study proposes and supports the application of 4 criteria for the sustainable management of drinking water within the home in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, defining and assessing three levels for each criterion: standard, best practices and superior practices. The control of the maximum consumption, the control of water consumption and leaks, the use of saving devices and rainwater reuse systems are the 4 criteria, the result of a larger research project titled: Method of Certification of Sustainable Construction household. The results presented here are obtained through the application of surveys to probe the existence of drinking water saving practices and the predisposition of the population to incorporate these strategies, measurements of water consumption by uses in 10 homes for a week, processing of official information on water consumption in the canton of Cuenca facilitated by ETAPA, and the analysis of secondary sources of several standards: ISO, INEC and the Ecuadorian Technical Construction Standard, among others. Finally, a case study is presented to validate the proposal through the simulation of a home, with the objective of demonstrating the savings obtained.