compression of methods to estimate the industrial water demand based on the number of industrial units, employees, total area and the area infrastructure

background: iran is an arid country and has serious limitations in terms of water recourses. in arid and semi-arid regions this problem is more severe. industry is one of the primary water consumers in the country and appropriate determination of industry water demand is on the most important priorities that should be considered to save water consumption as well as determining the industry water demand. the objective of this study was to select the best and the most accurate method to estimate the water demand in the industrial towns based on accurate statistical tests. methods: data were collected from 1256 industrial units in 5 industrial estates. the water demand was evaluated in four methods according to the number of industrial unit, the number of employees, the total area and the area infrastructure. estimated water consumption in each method presented a different value. findings: statistical results indicated that the number of employees and the total area are affected by lots of different parameters and they may not be consistent with industry needs. only the area infrastructure is in consistent with industry needs and is proportional to the industrial water demand. conclusion: the most accurate method for water demand estimation is the area infrastructure of the industrial unit and could provide more consistent results.