Xue Bai

The sustainable management of domestic water use is essential for China’s ongoing development. Despite its significance, public service water use, especially within the hotel industry, is frequently neglected. This industry not only accounts for substantial water usage, but it has also witnessed exponential growth over the past decade. In light of this, this study developed a survey on the water demand and behavior of hotel consumers and built a water consumption model to analyze the different characteristics of the total volume of water used by various water appliances. Furthermore, by dividing the hierarchical intervals of each water-use behavior, it identified the main water-saving target of each water appliance. The results showed that the daily water demand of each consumer in hotels ranged from 45 to 141 L/(person·d). Among the various water-use appliances, faucets had the highest proportion of excessive water use, reaching nearly 40%, which implies a relatively large potential for saving water. Additionally, showers were the next major contributors to water consumption, whereas the proportion of excessive water use for water closets was relatively small. Owing to different habits, there is also variability in the main groups of people targeted for water conservation across water appliances, with females having the largest potential for water consumption in hotels. The results of this study can provide greatvaluable insights for enhancing water-use efficiency in hotels and standardizing water management practices within the industry.

In China, natural snowfall is insufficient, and ski resorts often require artificial snowmaking in winter and turf management in summer, which results in high overall water consumption and considered as one of the high water-consuming service industries, with an urgent need for theoretical foundations related to water management. Based on life cycle theory, we examined the characteristics of the water systems of ski resorts in winter and summer. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to construct a stochastic model to quantify the theoretical water consumption for snowmaking at ski resorts and to investigate the mechanisms by which various factors influence this consumption. We summarize the necessity of summer turf management and irrigation requirements at ski resorts, explore the interaction between ski resorts and agricultural irrigation. The results show that the theoretical water demand of ski resorts is basically consistent with the actual water consumption of ski resorts, that the constructed model is feasible, and that snowmaking water is the most important water use of ski resorts. Exploring the collection and reuse of meltwater or rainwater from ski resorts for agricultural irrigation in the spring and summer could provide more possibilities for the sustainable management of regional water resources. The research findings can provide a theoretical basis for scientifically and reasonably setting the norm of water intake for ski resorts and for developing comprehensive water resource management plans for ski resorts and agricultural irrigation.

As a representative service industry, the hotel industry has a complex water-use structure and high water consumption. It is of great significance to investigate the mechanisms determining hotel water-use behavior for demand analysis, as this would make it possible to enhance water-use efficiency and enact targeted water-saving measures. Using Spearman’s hierarchical correlation coefficient, the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network model, and the structural equation model (SEM), in this study, we explored the mechanism determining hotel consumers’ water-use behavior from different dimensions and constructed a typical water-use behavior model based on the MLP-SEM model. In terms of individual water-use behavior, the results showed that individual characteristics, water-conservation awareness, and consumption behavior possessed significant differences regarding their influence on and correlation with various water-use behaviors. The most relevant factors influencing each behavior, namely washing up, hand washing, and drinking, were daily stay in the hotel, education, and income. Gender had the greatest impact on bathing and toilet-flushing water-use behaviors. The importance of daily stay in the hotel was 0.181, which meant that this was the most significant factor influencing the direct water-use behavior of hotel guests. The following factors were identified: hotel type, income, age, and gender. Typical individual characteristics had a significant impact on main water-use behaviors, whereas typical consumption behaviors had no effect. These results can provide a foundation for relevant research in other industries and serve as a basis for a prediction model of water consumption in hotels based on water-use behavior. Furthermore, they provide a basis for the delicate management of water-use behavior in hotels, making it possible to effectively guide the public to consciously adopt water-saving habits, thus improving water efficiency, which could alleviate the shortage of water resources in the long-term.

Colleges and universities are a typical service water consumers in China, i.e., with a dense population, single structure, and regular water use. This means it is crucial to strengthen the management of their water use behavior. In this paper, first of all, the main water devices and water use behavior of students were elucidated by investigating and analyzing the structure and scenarios of water use in colleges and universities. Then, a model of water use behavior of college students with sociodemographic and environmental characteristics was constructed based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). By investigating and analyzing the water use behavior, the theoretical judgment of the improved TPB model that “behavior is the result of interaction between individual and environmental characteristics” was proved, which provides a reference for studying the water demand requirements of college students and supports scientific water-use management in colleges, our results also help the exploration of potential water-saving solutions in order to construct water-conservative colleges and universities.

Water-efficient products, a key component of water-saving technology, are widely installed and utilized in all sectors of society. Due to China’s extensive and varied use of this product, advancements in effectiveness and quality will significantly enhance people’s standard of living. In recent years, manufacturers, corporate purchasers, and individual customers have given more attention to the quality of these items due to the spike in local market and export demands for water-efficient products in China. It has been a pressing problem to find a practical solution for increasing product quality in a reasonable and scientific manner. In order to build a DECIA quality improvement model for water-efficient product quality that is quantifiable and technically practical, this paper investigates how to improve the quality of smart water closets based on six-sigma management. Thus, the development of a water-efficient industry can be green and sustainable.