Conservation Policies: Who Responds to Price and Who Responds to Prescription?

Wichman, Casey J.; Taylor, Laura O.; Haefen, Roger H. von

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2789765

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Sometimes characterized as “market‐based approaches,” prices can be used to regulate water demand with increasing‐block tariffs, seasonal pricing, or rebates for efficiency (Bennear et al., 2013). Regulation, also called the prescriptive or “command‐and‐control” approach, principally consists of technology standards and restrictions on outdoor water use (Boyer et al., 2018; Olmstead & Stavins, 2009; Wichman et al., 2016). Public communication campaigns can also be used to influence water consumption behavior (e.g., Lamm et al., 2016).…”

Section: Water Conservation Restrictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies call for greater attention to the effects of conservation regulations (Robinson & Conley, 2017; Wichman et al., 2016); a focus on the implementation process and the link between regulatory implementation and water consumption will allow a deeper understanding of their effects. To our knowledge, only one study has attempted to model the effects of enforcement actions on water use.…”

Section: Water Conservation Restrictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public Water Waste Reporting: Contextual Correlates and Conservation Outcomes

Zhang

Teodoro

Switzer

2021

Water Resources Research

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The success of water conservation restrictions depends in part on governments' capacity to monitor water use. Inviting the general public to report instances of water waste is a potential means of expanding capacity to monitor and enforce water use. Does the general public engage in such "participatory surveillance?" How does participation in public monitoring vary across communities? Is participatory surveillance associated with the achievement of water conservation goals?This study explores the contextual correlates and implications of public responses to participatory surveillance as part of a regime of water restrictions adopted in response to a drought emergency. Our empirical subject is water conservation in California communities during that state's 2014-2017 drought. In response to a severe water shortage, California's governor ordered utilities to reduce potable water consumption and introduced a series of statewide measures to promote conservation. For instance, California authorities prohibited washing down driveways and sidewalks, outdoor irrigation that causes excess runoff, using a hose to wash a motor vehicle (unless the hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle), and using potable water in a fountain or decorative water feature, unless the water is recirculated. As part of these efforts, state and local agencies established telephone hotlines and websites for the public to report water waste and violations of drought restrictions anonymously. After a complaint was made, utilities proceeded with a series of escalating enforcement steps, including informal education, formal warning, and monetary penalties. That is, the governments actively invited the public to participate in surveillance of their neighbors as a means of promoting water conservation. The people responded with gusto: over the course of the drought emergency (August 2014 to April 2017), Californians reported more than 485,000 water waste complaints. The California communities provide an extraordinary opportunity to explore participatory surveillance as a means of managing a drought emergency.To that end, we analyze monthly water waste reporting and conservation across 408 water utilities in California during the drought emergency. To preview our results, we find that besides characteristics of water

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Section: Water Conservation Restrictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Water Conservation Restrictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Water Waste Reporting: Contextual Correlates and Conservation Outcomes

Zhang

Teodoro

Switzer

2021

Water Resources Research

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Consumption feedback and water saving: An experiment in the metropolitan area of Milan

Stefano¹,

Tommaso²,

Sabrina³

2023

MUNI ECON WP

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This paper questions whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving behavioral change. For this purpose, we launched a five-month online information campaign which involved equipping around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. Treated households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, which included a social comparison component (consumption class size). The difference-in-differences analysis showed that, compared to the control group, treated units reduced their daily per capita water consumption by more than 10 % (22 liters or 5.8 gallons). This additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired. The impact of the campaign was heterogeneous across consumption classes, while a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis showed that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. Finally, being able to observe the email opening rate, we complemented the ITT analysis by developing a Per Protocol (PP) analysis, where non-adherent units were excluded from the treated group. Both ITT and PP provide consistent conclusions, thus augmenting the level of confidence in the study results.

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Conservation Policies: Who Responds to Price and Who Responds to Prescription?

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

Public Water Waste Reporting: Contextual Correlates and Conservation Outcomes

Public Water Waste Reporting: Contextual Correlates and Conservation Outcomes

Consumption feedback and water saving: An experiment in the metropolitan area of Milan

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