Review of attitudes and preferences for water efficiency in homes

Abstract

Governments now recognise that climate change and its consequences need to beaddressed by changing people's attitudes, behaviour and every day practises. Socialfactors such as occupancy numbers and demographics, age of inhabitants, occupation ofinhabitants, personal habits, perceptions and attitudes, lifestyle and values of the wateruser influences how water is consumed in a building. Water efficiency strategies inbuildings should therefore aim to understand what people care about, and preserve thethings they consider important. Therefore it is necessary to understand the knowledge,views and priorities of water consumption within a property before deploying waterefficiency interventions.This paper presents findings from two studies designed to further understand water use indomestic properties, specifically looking at habits, lifestyles and attitudes towards waterconsumption. The aim is to establish the how these have changed since the first survey.The quantitative survey methodology was utilised and the data from the 503 respondentswas analysed using statistical analysis packages. 66% of the respondents were from theSouth East region of the UK and only the findings from these groups are presented in thispaper. The study found increased metering in the region since the first survey and that themetering program has resulted in changes in attitudes and awareness. The findings alsodraw on a change in barriers to the uptake of water efficient technologies. Furtherfindings demonstrate that water Company practises appear to contribute to theenvironmental knowledge of respondents. Findings from this study will inform the nextstages of a doctoral study which aims to propose a methodology for designing andimplementing customised water efficiency interventions in homes.