Estimating Differences in Water Demand by Neighbourhoods in an Urban Area: The Case of Enugu Urban

Inaccurate prediction of water demand in most cities of Nigeria has made water supply by the agencies responsible guesswork. Models developed in advanced countries for prediction of supply cannot be successfully used in Nigeria because of dearth of data that is used in the model development. This work develops a model that can be used to accurately predict water demand for the different residential densities in Enugu Urban. A total of 1610 questionnaires were administered in 22 layouts in Enugu urban. The layouts were stratified into densities (low, medium and high). Multiple linear regressions were used for the model base. The analysis showed that rent, income, average price of water and household size are significant and can be used in calculation water demand. Based on the findings, recommendations were made on ways to improve water supply in Enugu.