Water demand management research: A psychological perspective

Abstract

[1] The availability of fresh water for human consumption is a critical global issue and one that will be exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Water demand management has an important role to play in reducing the vulnerability of freshwater supplies to climate change impacts. In this paper, we argue that the field of psychology and environmental psychology in particular can make a vital contribution in understanding further the drivers of residential water demand. A growing body of literature in environmental psychology has examined the determinants of water conservation behavior, and this research has many potential applications for water demand policy. In this paper we offer a review of current psychological research that examines the five broad causes of residential water conservation behaviors: attitudes, beliefs, habits or routines, personal capabilities, and contextual factors. We assess how psychologists have studied water conservation behavior to date, identify shortcomings, and indicate how this research can be used to further promote residential water conservation and to inform evidence-based policy and practice.

Patterns of practice: a reflection on the development of quantitative/mixed methodologies capturing everyday life related to water consumption in the UK

“…However, the effectiveness of such approaches can be limited: there is a well-observed "value action gap" (Gregory and di Leo, 2003) in people's behaviour -a disjoint between reported attitudes towards the environment and actual actions to reduce water use (see, e.g. Russell and Fielding, 2010 for a review of studies), whilst household water use is typically quite inelastic to price (Arbués et al, 2003;Schleich and Hillenbrand, 2009;Arbués et al, 2010). Such approaches also target relatively minor changes in individual actions, reducing the associated water use in each performance of a practice (increasing its "efficiency") rather than attempting to alter the underlying, systemic structures which encourage and lock in particular ways of meeting preferences, or indeed which shape individuals' preferences for particular practices (Sofoulis, 2011;Watzlawick et al, 1974).…”

Developing Novel Approaches to Tracking Domestic Water Demand Under Uncertainty—A Reflection on the “Up Scaling” of Social Science Approaches in the United Kingdom

“…This lack of integration of the water industry with the broadest set of social science disciplines (sociology, geography, history, philosophy) is a large gap in understanding in the area of climate change and adaptation (Shove 2010). This is significant as despite a plethora of research on water use from psychological and economic related disciplines it is still relatively unknown whether people's attitudes towards the environment and water, people's intentions to conserve water or install water efficient devices lead to actual sustained water conservation and savings (see Russell and Fielding 2010, for a comprehensive review of these studies). In fact, it is well known that attitudes, intentions and self reported consumption are not predictive of actual water consumption (Hamilton 1985;de Oliver 1999) and that most water used in the home is relatively inelastic to price (Schleich and Hillenbrand 2009;Arbués et al 2003;Arbues et al 2010).…”

“…It achieves this by moving away from the focus on water resources and individual behavior, and focusing attention on factors which, despite prominence in research on water resources planning and demand intervention, fail to account for the gap between people's attitudes and their behaviors. This gap is consistently observed in demand management and other environmental settings (Russell and Fielding 2010). Instead, the theory and research presented in this article attempts to understand the gap between environmental/water attitudes and actual practices of consumers by moving towards an appreciation of the way that every day practices create and sustain change, and the way that these practices are related to technological, infrastructural and cultural development by 'letting go of water' and explicitly considering the 'distribution of demand'.…”

Hacia una administración consensuada de los recursos hídricos en ecociudades

“…El modelo mayoritario es directo porque a través de una fuente considerada experta puede influir sobre la decisión de con sumo del individuo. En efecto, la conformidad del individuo es el resultado final de la influencia mayoritaria (Rusell & Fielding, 2010).…”