Cross-country evidence for social dimensions of urban water consumption during droughts

Abstract

A systematic literature review is carried out to understand the social dimensions driving the adoption of water saving behaviors in urban households. Salient aspects of the problem correspond to price elasticity of water demand, citizens' awareness of water value and water conservation intentions, the management of which is generally tackled through water price and non-price approaches. However, the evidence falls short to explain the social drivers and inhibitors of stable water consumption reductions. After reviewing 65 papers documenting research conducted in North America, Australia, United Kingdom, Middle East, Mexico, China and Japan, a series of categories of analysis drawn from the literature are introduced as the social factors that influence water conservation reduction. Although the brink of the state of the art mentions the existence of an intention e behavior gap, sustainability requires further aspirations than short-term water consumption reduction by households. The long-term challenges of sustainability require the understanding of intention e behavior e stable reduction gaps. Further research is needed to fill this double gap. Understanding the determinants and insights behind the dissipation (or stabilization) of water consumption reductions through time are certainly rich areas of analysis for the social sciences.

The social drivers of cooperation in groundwater management and implications for sustainability

“…People may access water from different sources; individual access to tap water at private households is different from collective efforts to appropriate water units from a CPR. Devising productive institutions and incentives to conserve the groundwater may differ from institutions in access to tap water (see (Asprilla Echeverría, 2020) and Chapter 2 -Social drivers of urban water consumption).…”

“I conserve more water than others, do I?" An exploratory study examining self-assessment misperceptions of water conservation

“…Water conservation has long been a topic of interest with past research focused on stimulating household water conservation via different strategies (e.g., water pricing strategies, behavioural nudges, consumption feedback based on smart metering, educational programs, and communication messages; see e.g., Addo et al, 2018;Asprilla Echeverría, 2020). However, there is a general pitfall of many of these interventions as individuals are either not motivated after exposure to these interventions (Wallenborn, 2015) or the behavioural change slowly fades away (e.g., Asprilla Echeverría, 2020).…”

Guidelines for water conservation in Brazil

“…Contribution: I created a Water Security Index, which includes seven classes of indicators regarding water conservation information. (Echeverría, 2020).…”

“…Finally, Echeverría (2020) analyzed 65 articles to understand the social dimensions driving the adoption of water-saving behaviors in urban households, focusing on the variations of water management strategies in different regions of the world. After presenting five key social categories of analysis reported in the literature -(i) water prices, (ii) water-saving devices, (iii) inflation of self-reported water savings, (iv) intention/behavior gaps and (v) weakening of water reductions -the author concluded that strategies to limit water consumption patterns are related to the availability of technological advances, time allocation preferences and the implementation of home appliances.…”