Rhetoric and Cape Town’s Campaign to Defeat Day Zero

Walwema, Josephine

doi:10.1177/0047281620906128

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…But recent work also shows extreme climatic episodes can themselves have substantial-and externally-determinedimpacts on water use behavior. Studies have documented unexpected water savings related to spikes in media coverage and public awareness during California's recent extreme drought [21,24,25] or Cape Town's 'Day Zero' conservation campaign [26], for example. Analyses of the recent COVID-19 pandemic have shown [27,28] that other, non-climate factors can substantially influence water use behavior as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do water savings persist? Using survival models to plan for long-term responses to extreme drought

Bolorinos

Rajagopal²,

Ajami³

2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Water utilities must maintain reliable service in a world where climate shocks and other socio-economic and health stressors are likely to disrupt water availability and demand more frequently. Understanding short- and long-term customer responses to these salient events is critical for infrastructure planning and capital investment. Although the short-term demand impacts of extreme droughts and related policy measures have been studied extensively, less is known about how these impacts persist – especially when driven by public awareness, media coverage, or other external drivers. Here, we introduce a novel approach combining survival models and change detection to assess water demand conservation “survival” and rebound, using this method to analyze residential water demand in Costa Mesa, California after the state’s record-breaking 2012-2016 drought. We find that, of 54% of customers with detected savings in 2014-2015, just 25% rebounded to prior consumption levels after 5 years, implying mean conservation survival of 8 years. Survival was greater in young and politically progressive neighborhoods, smaller in residences with occupancy changes, and not significantly associated with water-efficiency rebates. Comparing the 2012-2016 drought to California’s milder 2007-2009 drought shows no evidence that drought severity associated with water savings persistence. This study presents an innovative approach to measure impacts of various stressors and their long-term water demand impacts. Our method enables utilities to more accurately discern structural changes in water demand, better informing strategic planning for short- and long-term water reliability and security.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do water savings persist? Using survival models to plan for long-term responses to extreme drought

Bolorinos

Rajagopal²,

Ajami³

2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Monmonier has created a space for us to understand maps as dialoguegenerating, and we argue that technical communicators, risk communicators, and information designers alike can help facilitate such dialogue, facilitate flood fluency (and action) in vulnerable populations-in the broadest sense of the phrase. Conceptually, the dialogic space is there, but practical digital tools can help ensure the dialogue is effective by being steeped in attention to user experience and rhetorical strategies [17].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitating Flood Fluency

Richards

Ball

2020

Proceedings of the 38th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication

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This research article outlines the design of a flood rate calculator developed in coordination with state and regional planning agencies of a coastal community in southeastern Virginia and reports on the results of a user experience test conducted on the design and utility of the tool. The tool is designed to allow users to calculate a rate for yearly flood premiums as well as learn about the factors involved in the actuarial framework-a complex set of data that is part of the National Flood Insurance Program, overseen by FEMA. Based on reflection on the design process and analysis of the test results, the authors offer recommendations for researchers, designers, and programmers interested in communicating flood insurance costs and risks to vulnerable coastal communities. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; User centered design.

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“…Communicationbased "Save Our Water" campaign-mostly leveraged conservation tips (Liang et al, 2018) Collection and communication of household water use data constrained by privacy mentality "Day Zero" campaign-"apocalyptic" rhetoric, numbers-based (Voci et al, 2020;Walwema, 2021) Water Dashboard (City of Cape Town, n.d.; Joubert & Ziervogel, 2019) Cape Town Water Map, launched Jan 2018 (Sinclair-Smith et al, 2018) Technical/ infrastructural Reduced volumes of water deliveries from the state's major water projects (Lund et al, 2018) Installation of water management devices (WMDs) expanded to high-income households (Bischoff-Mattson et al, 2020;DWS, 2018) Pressure management: Reduced rate of flow to lessen volume of water residents could access quickly and minimized amount lost to leaks (DWS, 2018)…”

Section: Case Selection: California United States and Western Cape So...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Western Cape, consecutive years of low rainfall from about 2015 to 2018 resulted in historically low levels in the dams that comprise the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS), which stores the City of Cape Town's water supply and secondarily supports the province's agricultural industry (Visser, 2018). Cape Town was approaching “Day Zero”—the “apocalyptic” (Voci et al., 2020; Walwema, 2021) moniker for the exact date on which the dams would reach 13.5% capacity, 1 triggering supply cutoffs to residences citywide (Millington & Scheba, 2020). In response, the municipal government implemented increasingly stringent water use restrictions through an intense communications campaign.…”

Section: Case Studies Background and Baseline Water Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose water crisis? How policy responses to acute environmental change widen inequality

David,

Hughes

2023

Policy Studies Journal

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Policy responses to the challenges associated with environmental change, including more frequent and severe climatic events, have interlinked environmental and social impacts. Less attention has been afforded to the latter, and specifically to the question of not just whether but how such responses create or entrench inequality. This paper examines policy responses to drought events in California, United States, and the Western Cape Province, South Africa, in terms of their effects on inequality, revealed in relationships to water access networks. We use concepts of water justice and hydraulic citizenship to evaluate how and why these policy responses reproduced water injustices in the two settings. We focus particularly on two mechanisms linking responses to widened inequalities: values‐reinforcement and strategic communication. Using interviews, policy documents, and media reports, we employ process tracing methods to illustrate these mechanisms through which drought policy impacts hydraulic citizenship experiences, manifesting water injustice. We contribute to emerging examinations of environmental policy responses and maladaptation by demonstrating how concepts of hydraulic citizenship and an emphasis on mechanisms can help us better understand and identify experiences of water injustice. We note policy implications and areas for future research, highlighting droughts as consequential policy sites for advancing social and environmental justice.

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Rhetoric and Cape Town’s Campaign to Defeat Day Zero

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

Do water savings persist? Using survival models to plan for long-term responses to extreme drought

Do water savings persist? Using survival models to plan for long-term responses to extreme drought

Facilitating Flood Fluency

Whose water crisis? How policy responses to acute environmental change widen inequality

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