See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310543676

Estimation of Water Demand For Commercial

Units in Karachi City

Article · February 2016

CITATIONS READS

0 81

3 authors:

Rabia Tabassum Mudassar Hassan Arsalan

National University of computer and Emergin… University of Karachi
13 PUBLICATIONS 1 CITATION 70 PUBLICATIONS 134 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Nazia Imam
National University of Computer and Emergi…
2 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Rabia Tabassum on 20 November 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016
Estimation of Water Demand
For Commercial Units in Karachi City
Rabia Tabassum1, Mudassar Hassan Arsalan2, Nazia Imam3
1
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan; rabia.tabassum@nu.edu.pk
2
University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan; mharsalan@uok.edu.pk
3
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan; nazia.imam@nu.edu.pk
Abstract—Water has always remained as the
vital element for human survival. It is also
essential for commerce and industry. Water
consumption varies by water demand
categories like domestic, commercial,
industrial, agricultural, and thermo-electric
power. Commercial water refers to the use of
water in office buildings, hotels, restaurants,
civilian and military institutions, public and
private golf courses, and other nonindustrial
facilities. During the last three decades, it is
worth noting that commercial activities in
Karachi have dramatically increased, thereby
causing an increase in water usage. This
paper provides an estimate of the commercial
water demand for Karachi, using the
statistical software package SPSS. The
information has been gathered through a
field survey. Results from the survey along
with discussion of the results have been
included in this paper.
Keywords—Commercial water demand; SPSS;
drinking water use; cleaning water use.
I. INTRODUCTION
Water, an essential element of the world’s
ecological system, is one of the vital needs of
life. Only 3% of world’s total water is fresh; and
this fresh water is 2.5% in frozen form, and only
0.5 % is available for human use[1]. Pakistan,
previously a water-surplus country, is now
considered as a water deficit country [2]. The
rainfall is insufficient to meet the growing
requirements of water [2]. Furthermore, it is
predicted that the constant increase in water
demand will lead to a severe scarcity of water in
the future.
According to Ahmed [3], Pakistan’s gross water
demand for non-irrigation purposes was
estimated at about 8.5 billion m3 in 2007, which
is expected to increase up to 11.2 billion m3 in
year 2025, with the growth rate of 1.5 % per
21
annum[4]. Karachi with its large population of
about 21 million is the largest cosmopolitan in
Pakistan, where citizens experience shortage of
various public utility needs including water. The
estimated water requirement for Karachi in 2010
was 853 million gallons per day, or MGD, but
from all resources Karachi receives only
603MGD with a deficit of 223 MGD [5]. The
water supply and demand condition in Karachi
indicates water shortage. So, there should be an
alternate source of water besides the municipal
tap water for the residents to overcome this
insufficient supply of water.
The municipal water usage varies by water
demand categories; domestic, commercial,
industrial, irrigation, and thermo-electric power.
Usually municipal water demand is measured in
gallon per capita per day(gpcd) for comparing
water use between utilities and other sectors.
According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage
Board’s water supply planning in Karachi, the
average water requirement should be 52 gallons
per capita per day [5]. However, the current
supply of Karachi is only 28gpcd[6].This makes
it almost half of the actual requirement.
Domestic water consumption constitutes 55% of
total water supply, industrial 5%, commercial
l5%, and 35 % water loss in leakage, as shown
in Figure 1[5].
Commercial water usage has increased
considerably in the last three decades and this
has led to the need of more water[7].
A. Motivation
The proportion of water consumption in
commercial units usually ranges between 10% to
20% of the total water demand in the urban
water supply, and there is a big potential of
water saving in this category. Sustainable water
resource management and future forecasting can
 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016
be helpful in this regard [8]. Currently,
knowledge about water usage in commercial
units is very limited; therefore, complete
information about commercial water demand is
crucial for the study of water conservation.
Fig.1: Water demand for Karachi City.
This short study is basically a part of the
research for estimating optimized water demand
using sustainable water resources management
for a planned city[9]. It was necessary in the
study to calculate the water demand for
optimized water requirements with respect to its
land utilization; such as, residential, commercial,
mixed use, amenities, recreations, agriculture
and reserved spaces, and, transportations etc.
Therefore, a survey has been conducted for this
study; and based on its findings, water use has
been estimated for the commercial area of
Karachi city.
The information on commercial water use per
employee can be estimated with the help of two
primary sources. The most common source is
the National Census and the second more
specific source is the individual state or regional
survey undertaken as part of a research project
on water management [10]. Karachi is the
commercial and financial hub of Pakistan, and it
is selected for the study for estimation of
commercial water demand in different
commercial areas as shown in Figure 2.
Mostly the business area is composed of shops
of shoes, garments, beauty parlor, hair dressing
saloons, grocery and general stores, eating
places, confectionery, ice cream parlors, banks
and cassettes/CD's stores, jewelry, eye glasses
and photographers' studios [7].
22
Fig.2: Study Area “Karachi”
II. STUDY AREA
Karachi is the capital of Sindh province, and is
the largest city of Pakistan with an area of 3600
square kilometers. According to land use, it can
be classified as; constructed land, vegetation
coverage, industrial built-up, commercial areas
and recreational areas.
Many markets exist in this city. The popular
ones are Empress Market, Bolton Market, Khodi
Garden, Jodia Bazar, Bohri Bazar, Zainab
Market, Tariq road, and Zamzama. These trade
centers have enabled the city to develop as an
important industrial and economic center that
attracts people not only from Pakistan but all
over the world.
Karachi water supply faces major challenges
with respect to water quantity and quality.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s water
supply is the only water resource, which is
insufficient for Karachi city.
III. METHODOLOGY
In commercial units, water is consumed mainly
for drinking, cleaning, and washroom uses. To
estimate the water demand in commercial units,
a questionnaire was designed to obtain water use
for drinking, cleaning, washroom and other uses
according to their commercial activity. As the
main emphasis of this study is per capita
estimation and water use per unit area; therefore,
area of the commercial units and the number of
employees and employers are also recorded
during this survey.
This study is a part of optimized water demand
estimation for different land uses in which
commercial land use is separated from
 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016
amenities. Therefore, selection of sample
excluded educational institutes, offices and
public places, etc., and the target subjects were
only retail outlets and shopping malls. Stratified
random sampling was opted in nine selected
commercial areas located at different locations
of the city, namely, FB area, Gulistan-e-Johar,
Gulshan-e-Omair, Hyderi, MalirCantt, Model
Colony, Malir Colony, Punjab Colony and
Sadder. Around 320 sample outlets were
randomly surveyed and questionnaire got filled
with them.
The questions included in the questionnaire of
water survey were coded as variables in SPSS,
the total of which became six variables. All of
320filled questionnaire data were entered as
inputs.
The data gathered through survey was entered
into the SPSS statistical software. Water demand
analysis for commercial areas using descriptive
statistics command of SPSS was performed and
the results were presented in the form of tables
and graphical representations. The Descriptive
command of SPSS displays univariate summary
statistics for several variables in a single table.
In this study, the statistics like minimum value,
maximum value and mean and sum of each
variable are estimated. Per capita water use
coefficient was found out by considering the
total water consumption and numbers of
employees and employers in commercial units.
Moreover, water demand per unit area has also
been estimated, this coefficient will be helpful
for geographical implementation.
Fig.3: Water demand in different daily uses
23
IV. RESULTS
Table I gives the results of the survey. The total
study area covered in selected samples is
approximately 105,544 ft2. It is estimated that
the total number of employees and employers in
the given area is 1,448persons with a mean value
of 5 persons per unit. The result indicates that
water demand per employee has been recorded
as 2.3gal per employee per day, which could be
considered as the water consumption per capita
for commercial units. Whereas, the water
demand with reference to the covered area is
estimated as 0.031 gal/ ft2. The total water use in
given commercial units is calculated as about
3,351gpd, which is comprised of drinking
(1,237gpd), cleaning (1,057gpd), washroom
(729gpd), and other water consumption
(430gpd). The mean value of total water demand
is approximately 10.5 gallons per day.
This study highlights the commercial units,
excluding offices and public buildings which are
also parts of commercial activities. The
questionnaire covers only the water consumption
on a daily basis; therefore, total water
consumption is divided into four categories;
Washroom use, Cleaning use, drinking use, and
other water uses.
The result of estimation of water demand
distribution in commercial units of Karachi is
given in Figure 3.
This distribution shows that in commercial units
most of the water is used for drinking purpose
with a share of 39% of the total water demand.
The water usage for cleaning is 28% and the
washroom usage share is 22%. The minimum
share is for other uses of water consumption,
which is only 11%.
 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016

There are various kinds of commercial activities
in Karachi. Among them are grocery and general
stores, garment, jewelry, electronic, crockery,
shoes, meat shop, toys, beauty salon, barber
shops, cosmetic, books &stationary, electronics
&mobile, health center, restaurant, car washing/
petrol pump, and interior decoration, etc. The
total water consumption is broken down in four
categories, namely drinking, cleaning,
washroom use, and other as shown in Figure 4.
Fig.4: Water demand distribution in commercial
units of Karachi.
It has been found out that most of the water is
consumed for cleaning and drinking purposes in
restaurants. Medical Centers that included small
clinics have the second highest share in total
commercial water demand with majority of
drinking water utility.
Water consumption in barber shops, beauty
salons, and meat shops are almost same and for
butcher shops most of the water is used for
cleaning purposes, but in beauty salons and
barber shops mostly water used for bathing and
drinking. Comparatively, utensil and cosmetics
shops have the lowest share of water use, which
included mostly for drinking purposes. Other
places include car washing/ petrol pump and
some shops which sample size was very small
that it can’t put in individual categories. For
these shops major water used in cleaning and
drinking. The remaining shops have almost same
water demand.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The water utility estimation for commercial
units of Karachi is explored in this study.
Generally, the commercial water demand is
estimated at 10% to 20% of the total water
demand. The results show that the mean total
water use in commercial area is 10.5 gpd, which
comprises drinking (3.88gpd), cleaning
(3.30gpd), washroom (2.27gpd), and other uses
(1.34gpd). The water demand per employee is
2.3 gal per employee per day, which could be
considered as the water consumption per capita
for commercial units. This estimation is almost
8% of the total domestic water consumption per
capita which is 28 gpcd. This reveals that
commercial water consumption estimation is
quite high in comparison to commercial
(including offices and public places) water share
for Karachi city which is only 5% of total water
demand [5]. Due to lack of availability of water,
the average domestic water use for Karachi is a
very small value (i.e., 28 gpcd), in comparison
with per capita daily water demand for different
international cities, e.g. Tokyo-Japan (77gpcd)
New York-USA (161 gpcd) Colombo-Sri Lanka
(60gpcd) and Mumbai-India (43gpcd)[11]. The
only solution of this condition is the use of an
alternate water resource and sustainable water
management that not only reduces the water
demand or use but also increases water demand
per capita. The water demand with reference of
geological location or per unit area is estimated
as 0.031 gal/ ft2 and this coefficient is very
helpful for calculating water demand on spatial
and as well as temporal bases.

TABLE I. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS RESULT

MINIMUM MAXIMUM SUM MEAN

Area in square feet 30.00 10000.00 105544.50 330.86
Employer and Employees (number of persons) 1.00 35.00 1448.00 4.55
Drinking water consumption (in gallons) 0.22 109.98 1237.11 3.88
Cleaning water consumption (in gallons) 0.11 131.98 1057.83 3.30
Washroom consumption of water (in gallons) 0.22 43.99 729.09 2.27
Other water use (in gallons) 0.22 43.99 430.26 1.34
Total water use (in gallons) 0.44 230.97 3351.12 10.51

24
 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016
With respect to the types of commercial area, it
has been observed that restaurant is the biggest
water consumer and the least water usage is
shown in cosmetic shops. As in this study
Offices and public buildings etc. It is concluded
that commercial water demand estimations
indicate that all results could be are probably
right. It will be very useful for calculating
optimized water demand by using alternate
resources.
Moreover, this research can be extended by
estimating the reduction in water demand using
different water conservation practices such as
use of water efficient fixtures and recycling of
grey water. The water conservation not only
saves the water but also reduces the water
demand.
REFERENCES
[1] World Business Council for sustainable
development, "Facts and trends: Water", World
Business Council for sustainable development,
Geneva, 2006.
[2] M. Akram Kahlown and A. Majeed, "Water-
Resources Situation in Pakistan: Challenges and
Future Strategies", Journal of Science for
development, vol. 7, no. 3 & 4, pp. 33-45, 2002.
[3] A. Parveen Azad and R. Ahmed, "A
Geographical Study of Land-use in the
Commercial Heart of Karachi
(Saddar)", Pakistan Geographical Review, vol.
61, no. 2, pp. 64-82, 2006.
[4] S. Asim, "Water usage habits in Karachi: An
averting expenditure approach," Institute of
Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan,
2010.
[5] Ihsanullah, "Evaluation and Prospects of
Scientific Management of Water Resources in
Karachi City: A GIS Perspective", University of
Karachi, Islamabad, 2010.
[6] "KW&SB, Karachi Profile", Kwsb.gov.pk, 2011.
[Online]. Available: http://www.kwsb.gos.pk/.
[7] A. Parveen Azad and R. Ahmed, "Geographical
Analysis of Commercial Structure in Clifton,
Karachi", Pakistan Geographical Review, vol.
62, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2007.
[8] Chanan, Vinita, Stewart White, Carol Howe, and
M. Jha. "Sustainable water management in
commercial office buildings." In Innovations in
25
Water: Ozwater Convention & Exhibition, Perth,
pp. 6-10. 2003.
[9] R. Tabassum, M. Arsalan, A. Osmani and A.
Khalid, "GIS for estimating optimized water
demand using sustainable water resource
management for a planned city", in Aerospace
Science & Engineering at Institute of Space
Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2015.
[10] L. Mercer and W. Morgan, "Estimation of
Commercial, Industrial and Governmental Water
use for Local Areas", Journal of the American
Water Resources Association, vol. 10, no. 4, pp.
794-801, 1974.
[11] E. M. M. Syed R. Qasim, Guang Zhu, Water
Works Engineering: Planning, Design, and
Operation: Prentice-Hall Of India Pvt. Limited,
2000, 2000.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Rabia Tabassum has been associated with the
National University of Computer and Emerging
Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan, as a Lecturer since
August 2003. She teaches physics, basic
electronics and computer digital logic design.
She is a research scholar and doing M.Phil.
leading to Ph.D. in space science from ISPA
University of Karachi. Her research areas are
space science, geo informatics and remote
sensing, watershed modeling, groundwater
modeling, and conjunctive use of surface and
ground water. She has presented her research
studies on drought monitoring, optimized water
demand and conservation of water in various
national and international conferences.
Mudassar Hassan Arsalan is an Associate
Professor at Institute of Space and Planetary
Astrophysics. He started his research and
teaching career in 1999 at the department of
geography, University of Karachi. He has also
served and taught geo-informatics at National
University of Sciences and Technology, Institute
of Space Technology and Bahria University. His
research areas are applied geo-informatics and
sustainable development. He has produced more
than 25 research papers in national and
international journals of good repute and impact
factor. He has supervised research in the same
disciplines for many M.S and Ph.D. students and
has presented his research in conferences and
workshops.
 FAST-NU Research Journal (FRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2016

Nazia Imam completed her M.A. in English

from the University of Karachi in 2003. She
started her teaching career in 2004 as Lecturer at
department of English, Jinnah University for
Women, Karachi. Since 2008, she has been a
part of the humanities department at National
University of Computer and Emerging Sciences-
Karachi in 2008. Currently, she is an M.Phil.
scholar, and her area of research is blended
learning in higher education.

26

View publication stats