CASE STUDY Water conservation potential in educational institutions in developing countries: case study of a university campus in Ghana S. Oduro-Kwarteng a *, K.B. Nyarko a , S.N. Odai a and P. Aboagye-Sarfo b a Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana; b Department of Mathematics, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana (Received 1 August 2007; final version received 29 April 2008) This paper presents evidence of the potential for institutional water conservation in a developing country using a university campus in Kumasi, Ghana, as a case study and suggests measures for reducing water demand in institutions. A water end-use survey was conducted using a sample of 144 students from six halls of residence to determine lavatory faucet (tap), showerhead and water closet water-use. The average per capita water use was 115.12 + 5.33 litres per day at 95% confidence level. Results of the water end-use analysis showed that students use high quantities of water for bathing (61.90 + 4.06 litres per capita per day at 95% confidence level). There is a potential for reducing the annual water demand by 30.85% through water conservation measures such as retrofitting with water-efficient showerheads and water closets. The payback period for the cost of retrofitting in the current study was found to be 6.5 years. Keywords: water end-use; water conservation; water demand management; water supply 1. Introduction There is increasing demand for water and competition for limited water resources among different users due to urbanisation and rapid population growth. In recent years in-house retrofitting with water-saving devices has been practised in several countries for the purpose of conserving water. Water demand management (WDM) is a management approach involving selective combination of economic instruments such as appro- priate water price policy and water price increases; technical instruments such as retrofitting with water- saving devices and leakage detection programmes; and promotional instruments such as public education to promote efficient use of water and decrease the level of demand for water (White 1999, Kanakoudis 2002). When water is under-priced it often leads to abuse and inefficient use of the resource. Increasing water use efficiency remains the key strategy for water conserva- tion, and it involves either replacing inefficient water- use equipment with more efficient types or finding and repairing leakage points in the water distribution system to conserve water. The literature gives several successful implementa- tions of WDM programmes in the developed coun- tries. The implementation of a 10-year water-saving programme in the USA from 1985 to 1995 showed that urban water consumption could be reduced at an average rate of 25% through household water-saving devices (Kanakoudis 2002). The potential water conservation due to showerheads and toilet alone was estimated to be up to 32% in a residential water end-use study in the USA (Dickinson and Maddaus 2003). By the year 2003, over 2.3 million low-flow toilets had been retrofitted in California State (Dickinson 2003). Australia has significantly decreased the volume of water used for flushing water closets (WC) from an average of 11–13 litres per flush to less than 4 litres per flush, due to the development of the dual-flush WCs (White 1999, Day and White 2003). In 1989, Australia made it mandatory for all new WCs to be fitted with a 4.5/9.0 litre dual-flush cistern. In 1996 the authorities further tightened standards and reduced the dual-flush to 3.0/6.0 litres (Sharma 2004). All water closets manufactured in Australia are now 3.0/6.0 litres dual flush (White 1999, Day and White 2003). The change in water closet efficiency has reduced the per capita demand by nearly 20 litres per person per day. The residential retrofitting programme in Sydney has resulted in average reduction in water demand of *Corresponding author. Email: sokwarteng@yahoo.com Urban Water Journal Vol. 6, No. 6, December 2009, 449–455 ISSN 1573-062X print/ISSN 1744-9006 online Ó 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/15730620903108975 http://www.informaworld.com