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

Abstract

Climate change, socio-demographic change and changing patterns of ordinary consumption are creating new and unpredictable pressures on urban water resources in the UK. While demand management is currently offered as a first option for managing supply/ demand deficit, the uncertainties around demand and its' potential trajectories are problematic for water resources research, planning and policy. In this article we review the ways in which particular branches of social science come together to offer a model of 'distributed demand' that helps explain these current and future uncertainties. We also identify potential strategies for tracking where the drivers of change for demand may lie. Rather than suggest an alternative 'demand forecasting' technique, we propose methodological approaches that 'stretch out' and 'scale up' proxy measures of demand to inform water resources planning and policy. These proxy measurements could act as 'indictors of change' to water demand at a population level that could then be used to inform research and policy strategies. We conclude by arguing for the need to recognise the co-production of demand futures and supply trajectories.

Re-Introducing Consumption to the ‘Circular Economy’: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Domestic Food Provisioning

“…A sociotechnical approach to exploring dynamics of household consumption in relation to questions of sustainability has gained traction, most notably in relation to the use of energy (e.g., [10,[36][37][38]) and water (e.g., [39]). New technologies are increasingly noted for their role in transforming everyday life in the domestic sphere.…”

Domestic Water Demand During Droughts in Temperate Climates: Synthesising Evidence for an Integrated Framework

“…These show that households with very similar characteristics can have very different patterns of micro-component water use (Medd and Shove 2007). Indeed, inter-household variation has received limited attention and there is a relatively poor understanding of how and why demand varies from property to property (CIWEM 2016) and over time although the concept of social practices has recently gained considerable leverage in this respect (Shove 2003;Allon and Sofoulis 2006;Shove et al 2012;Browne et al 2013).…”

“…Overall, it can be seen that a wide range of factors influence residential water consumption and this makes the estimation of household water demand extremely complex (Medd 2007;Browne et al 2013;Parker and Wilby 2013). However, it is equally clear that there is strong evidence for the inclusion of a range of socio-economic factors as well as dwelling characteristics and local climatic conditions in any residential demand model.…”

Distributed Demand and the Sociology of Water Efficiency

“…Browne et al (2012) began to explore the idea of demand as created and distributed across bodies, households, public spaces, water infrastructures, designers and manufacturers, beauty care industries, garden and lifestyle designers and manufacturers, and regulatory systems; and what we do with these things, social and cultural images, and how it shapes the services water provides (family care, lifestyle, cleanliness and hygiene, health, comfort, etc.). Water demand is like an urban metabolism (e.g., Addams, 2000;Alexander et al, 2008) encompassing a range of reactions and counter-reactions, meaning that a change at one site in this distributed demand system could be related to change or maintenance of the status quo at another point in this system.…”