Sustainable Water Use Practices: Understanding and Awareness of Masters Level Students

Abstract

Present water consumption in the UK is unsustainable, with increasing societal and environmental pressures driving water stress. Personal use of water is a significant contributor to water demand and considering the number of universities and students in the UK the water use practices therein cannot be ignored. Therefore, this paper aims to deepen the theme of water consumption in the United Kingdom from the point of view of use practices for students. The originality in this research lies in better understanding whether UK Masters level students have a basic awareness of personal water consumption and water pricing and whether they have a preferred approach to reducing their water consumption—through a behavioral change, or through adoption of technologies. Through use of a questionnaire approach applied to five cohorts (2017 to 2021) of Masters level students, the level of understanding and awareness towards their own domestic water use both now and in the future was demonstrated. Key findings suggest that Masters students underestimated their water use by 76% compared to the average UK national range and that there was an overall preference to adopt water saving technologies rather than changing user behavior (40% vs. 27%). The study concludes that it is important to approach water conservation from an SPT perspective in order to achieve meaningful change in water use practices. Qualitative and quantitative research is analyzed in light of theoretical models (i.e., Social Practice and Attitude Behavior Framework ABC) in order to make recommendations for greater societal prominence for this issue through media and education.

The water pivot: transforming unsustainable consumption to valuing water as a resource for life

“…Assigning quotas, or command and control methods, can be used to facilitate efficient, predictable sharing of resources (Shi et al, 2014). They are considered to be quicker and easier to implement compared to exploring the use of alternative water resources (Hunt and Shahab, 2021), including recycling (Blackmore et al, 2020) or allowing market forces to influence multiple users of the resource (Munasinghe, 2010). However, studies have also found command and control methods to result in greater economic losses and therefore to be more expensive to society (Olmstead and Stavins, 2009;Luby et al, 2018).…”

“…Water efficiency measures are frequently reliant on the adoption of technological changes. This has inherent risks in leading to technological lock-in (Markolf et al, 2018), has the potential to limit innovation (Olmstead and Stavins, 2009) and not lead to the expected savings due to behavioral changes (Olmstead and Stavins, 2009;Hunt and Rogers, 2014;Hunt and Shahab, 2021). It also has the potential to increase inequity due to a requirement for new technology to meet the restriction.…”

“…It also has the potential to increase inequity due to a requirement for new technology to meet the restriction. It has been suggested that a palatable approach would be the combination of technology with behavioral approaches (Hunt and Shahab, 2021;Murwirapachena, 2021), which could align with market-based policies akin to other environmental initiatives (Gugler et al, 2021).…”

“…Where infrastructure and regulation are sufficiently developed, such that access to clean water and sanitation is locally universal, understanding of the volume of water consumed, the price of this water and subsequently the value it provides can be seen to be lacking. This is observed throughout the population, including amongst an environmentally aware sample group, where there is frequently little recognition of either the amount of water used, or the cost of that water (Heino and Takala, 2015;Lucio et al, 2018;Hunt and Shahab, 2021).…”

Insights into Efficient Irrigation of Urban Landscapes: Analysis Using Remote Sensing, Parcel Data, Water Use, and Tiered Rates

“…However, implementing efficient irrigation practices with many individual users and diverse landscapes is challenging [25]. One approach is an educational solution; many water conservation programs and university extension programs seek to communicate optimum watering practices to water users, including proper timing and depth of irrigation as well as fertilizer application [26][27][28][29][30]. Another option is a technical solution; irrigation systems with automated soil moisture sensors may help reduce water use as the systems only irrigate when plants require water, reducing over-irrigation [31][32][33][34][35].…”