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q:. ) c -20 <br />3.1 Wcarher <br />In water use forecasting, it is typical to "w rather notmalize" base year water us.- Water <br />use tends to increase with hot, dry weather and decrease with cool, wet weather. Hence, it <br />is important to adjust for abnormal weather patterns in order to establish an unbiased <br />scatting point for the forecasts. <br />We collected monthly rain and daily maximum temperature data from the National <br />Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration for the Redwood City weather station over the <br />period 1948 to date. Our analysis of this data shows that weather daring the calendar year <br />2000 was closes to normal than any other year in the series. This simplifies the weather <br />normalization task as the 2000 water use date are already effectively weather normalized. <br />The annual weather values for 2000 and normal are shown in Exhibit 4. <br />Exhibit 4. <br />I Descr pdon <br />Annual Rain (inches) <br />Annual Average of Daily Max <br />Temperature ('F) <br />Weather for Year 2000 <br />7 2000 Normal <br />19.57 1 20,21 <br />71.0 I 71.3 <br />3.2 Water Prices <br />Changes in water prices are also known to change customers' behavioral decisions <br />regarding water use. Following the first law in economic demand theory, as the real price <br />of a commodity increases, the quantity demanded by consumers decreases. <br />A review of RWC water prices shows they have remained relatively stable over recent <br />years after adjusting for inflation. This finding of rate stability again simplifies the <br />analysis as there is no need to make water price adjustments to base year water use. <br />Appendix E contains the 2002 water price schedule, <br />3.3 Water Conservation Technologies <br />Water fixtures have tended to become more water efficient over time because of <br />improvements in water conservation technologies. In this study, we specifically account <br />for known water using efficiencies occurring with toilets and clothes washers. These are <br />the two largest end uses of indoor residential water use, making up about half of total use. <br />Toilet manufactures came out with 1.6 gallon per flush toilets, known as ultra -low flush <br />toilets or TJUTs, in 1989. Toilets before this time used 3.5 gallon per flub or more, In <br />January 1992, a California Plumbing Code change required all new toilets to be ULFTs. <br />Many older, less-efficient Inlets were still being sold, however, at this time, A Federal <br />plumbing code change effective January 1994 mandated ULFI's be used in all new <br />4 <br />Page 5 <br />