Causes of Domestic Water Consumption Trends in the City of Alicante: Exploring the Links between the Housing Bubble, the Types of Housing and the Socio-Economic Factors

The European Mediterranean coastline has experienced major tourism-related urbanization since 1960. This is a dynamic that has led to increased spending on water consumption for urban and tourism-related uses. The objective of this paper is to define and to analyze how domestic water consumption in the city of Alicante evolved between 2000 and 2013. Real billing figures for individual households were analyzed according to the type of housing and the income level of the occupants. The conclusions drawn show that consumption fell over the period studied, and that there are different patterns in water expenditure depending on the type of housing and the inhabitants.The results presented in this article are part of three research studies. The first, entitled “Urbanisation and water metabolism in the coast of Alicante: Analysis of trends for the 2000–2010 period” was funded by the Spanish MINECO under grant number CSO2012-36997-C02-02. The second, entitled “Uses and management of non-conventional water resources in the coast of Valencia and Murcia as an adaptation strategy to drought” funded by the Spanish MINECO under grant number CSO2015-65182-C2-2-P. The third is part of a Ph.D. research grant funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education