Objectives

 The overall objective of the study was to develop economic
information on water use in retail and service (commercial) busi-
nesses. More specifically, the objective was to identify the factors
affecting the use of water by individual businesses and to esti-
mate the demand for water for these users. Earlier attempts at
estimating water use by commercial establishments [2, 5, 11, 20,
21, 32] are discussed in Luppold [15] and Lynne, Luppold, and
Kiker [19]. Only the study by Headley [11] included an attempt
to isolate the impacts of price.

 BUSINESSES STUDIED

 Four types of businesses were studied (Table 1). Restaurants,
bars, and motels were picked because it was expected these busi-
nesses were large consumers of water. Furthermore, the Miami
area with its large tourist trade has a great number of these
businesses. Department stores and grocery stores were also in-
cluded, to represent other major groups of users.
 Data was also collected from furniture stores, drug stores,
hardware stores, and men's, women's apparel stores [15]. In-
sufficient data points were received to accomplish a reliable esti-
mation process for each of these business types. Also, various
attempts at grouping these types of business establishments in
different manners were unsuccessful. This indicates that pro-
duction functions and processes are quite different between and
among different types of commercial establishments, suggesting
data collection and model estimation must be accomplished at

 Table 1.-Business types by model group.
 Business Population'
Model Group (number of stores)
Department stores 177''
Grocery stores 1,754'
Motels and hotels 793
Restaurants, bars, and lounges 2,452''
 'From the 1972 Census of the Miami Standard Metropolitan Statistical
Area (SMSA) [28, pp. 10-17; 29, pp. 10-16]. No census information was
available for the Florida Keys since it was not considered a SMSA in the
1972 Census.
 includes department and variety stores.
 'Includes grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience food stores.
 'Includes fast food establishments. A total of 491 of these establishments
were drinking establishments.