Resumen
In the design of a water supply network, the use of traditional formulas of the peak factor may lead to over-dimensioning the network pipelines, especially in small towns. This discrepancy is probably due to changes in human habits as a consequence of a general improvement of living conditions. Starting from these considerations, and given the availability of a wide random sample data, an analysis of the water demand for several towns in Puglia was carried out, leading to the definition of a relationship between the above mentioned peak factor and the number of inhabitants, based on a stochastic approach. An interesting outcome of this study is that the design of water supply network is possible without considering the use of monthly and weekly peak factors, since the current water demands appear not specifically sensitive to these variations; moreover, the magnitude of the peak factor, as shown by measured data, is considerably lower compared to literature values, especially for small towns.