Understanding household water-use behaviour in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Climate change, population growth and industrial activities continue to threaten water security, especially in the semi-arid regions. Demand management policies are essential in minimising the effects of acute water shortages. Such policies require information on household water consumption patterns and their behavioural practices. This study examines household water consumption behaviour and the adoption of water-efficient appliances in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study uses probit regression models to analyse survey data collected from 889 households during the period November 2017 to February 2018. Results show that while most households do not have water-efficient appliances installed in their homes, they do practise water-efficient behaviour. Older respondents as well as males and lower-income respondents are found to be more likely to practise efficient water-use behaviour. However, biographical variables do not generally influence the adoption of water-efficient appliances. These results are essential for policy-makers when formulating targeted water demand management policies. Thus, policy-makers should focus more on younger people, women and higher-income households when developing campaigns on efficient water-use behaviour.

Mechanisms to change farmers' drought adaptation behaviors in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, Iran

“…In other words, they believed that they could better implement the measures required for the application of drought adaptation strategies. Other researchers also argue that the belief in the control over performing a task is important for behavior change, and the implementation of any environmental intervention should be based on people's abilities (Murwirapachena, 2021;Small and Maseyk, 2022;Tien et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2022). The other important component that affected the farmers' drought adaptation behavior was behavioral intention.…”

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

“…The selection was limited to those areas where water and sanitation is provided to a large proportion of the urban population (>80% with water supply and 40% sanitation provision based on data from World Bank, 2022) and where data could be sourced with reliability. Therefore this analysis seeks to provide an indication of the relationship between consumption and water price across the globe, however does not reflect the variation caused by non-centralized water services which may have substantial price differences, supply restrictions and inequitable access impacts (Ntengwe, 2004;Opryszko et al, 2009;Plappally and Lienhard, 2012;Ahmad, 2017;Murwirapachena, 2021).…”

“…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).…”

“…The collection of data based on established, centralized distribution excludes the prices paid by populations where this is not the case. Therefore it does not take account of the substantial price increases when private water vendors are utilized in place of, or to supplement, centralized infrastructure (Opryszko et al, 2009;Plappally and Lienhard, 2012;Ahmad, 2017), or the impact of intermittent or restricted supply caused by the lack of, or inequity of access to, centralized services (Ntengwe, 2004;Murwirapachena, 2021). Consequently, this analysis provides an indication of the relative value ascribed to water services, but does not seek to demonstrate the full range of prices paid for water globally, or the value placed upon water in all circumstances.…”

Estimation of household water consumption pattern in a metropolitan area taking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has proven lethal to human beings, let alone overwhelm the water supply and sanitation sector ever since its outbreak (Antwi et al 2021 ). Households are among the largest water users (Murwirapachena 2021 ), accounting for the majority of urban water network subscriptions in the Tabriz metropolitan area (WWC-EAP 2021 ). As a result, analysis of their water use pattern can help develop appropriate measures to increase the resiliency of an urban water supply system in the face of traditional and newly emerging challenges.…”