The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) must develop a linear regression model that can be used to estimate the fresh water needs of various com- munities. SFWMD has collected data on 50 communities, noting each community’s population and total annual fresh water consumption. Using this data, you have calculated the following regression equation:
Y = 200.12 + 24.9X
Where X is the population of the community and Y is the total annual fresh water consumption, in acre-feet. (An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre, 1 foot deep.)
a. Using this regression model for estimation, how much fresh water would a community of 1,500 people consume each year? A community of 45,000?
b. According to this regression model, each new person who moves to a community increases its annual fresh water consumption by how much?
c. According to this regression model, if a town were abandoned, such that no one was living there for the entire year, what would the town’s fresh water consumption be? Is this possible.