Urban water conservation through customised water and end-use information

Abstract

Water conservation in urban centres is an ongoing challenge in which new technologies can play an important role. Smart water metering in conjunction with end-use analysis enables the collection of more detailed information on household water consumption than was previously possible. This presents a new and currently underexplored opportunity to promote more efficient water use via the provision of detailed customised water-use information to householders. Among the variety of possible approaches, is the option of paper-based reports containing a highly detailed 'snapshot' of household water use. This paper describes a mixed methods study in which customised paper-based 'Home Water Updates' were provided to a group of households in Australia to explore the idea of providing detailed feedback, including detailed end-use consumption information on uses of water within the home. The methods used within this research are described in detail to disseminate experience in this relatively new area of research. Analysis of the postintervention householder evaluation survey showed the provision of detailed water-use information via the Home Water Updates appealed to the vast majority of householders; and further resulted in changed behaviours (e.g. shorter showers and full washing machine loads) and installations of new infrastructure. These research findings suggest a potential role for customised household water and end-use information via smart metering. However, more work is required to optimise approaches to enable a significant contribution towards more sustainable urban water management.

Promoting Water Conservation: Where to from here?

“…Smart metering intervention providing detailed feedback on household water use, in the context of Australia [82] 8%…”

Coordinating water conservation efforts through tradable credits: A proof of concept for drought response in the San Francisco Bay area

“…This may be especially relevant for long‐term endeavors when there is less fluctuation in customers' water use behaviors and utilities can better predict the outcomes of their conservation programs, but utilities can also actively reduce uncertainty by developing a better understanding of changing water demand dynamics. For example, several utilities are starting to incorporate existing information technology for data‐driven customer engagement and customized water budgets beyond the drought, an approach with potential to create behavioral change not only in the residential sector but also for commercial, industrial, and institutional customer classes [ Liu et al ., ; Reed , ]. Not only do data‐driven approaches enhance customer engagement, they also provide an opportunity for utilities and policy‐makers to better understand water use trends and of customers' responsiveness to different conservation incentives [ Cominola et al ., ; Gurung et al ., ], and could tie back to the proposed web‐platform for facilitating conservation credit trading.…”

“…This adjustment is based on the observation that customers may respond by changing their conservation behaviors in response to changing conditions, which could result in significant uncertainty for water managers. For example, customer engagement and enhanced public awareness during severe drought periods has been observed to contribute to higher‐than‐expected water savings [ Aisbett and Steinhauser , ; Hollis , ; Liu et al ., ; Syme et al ., ; Tang et al ., ]; whereas other cases have observed an opposite trend in which conservation measures are partly offset by increased water use [ Berbel et al ., ; Loch and Adamson , ]. We account for these potential uncertainty effects by incorporating an additional level of behavioral conservation ( ) in utilities' water savings portfolios, and computing accordingly how many conservation credits each utility would bid for ( ) in order to meet their mandated target as described in equation .…”

“…As water scarcity issues become more prominent around the world, education campaigns and public awareness have been observed to play an important role in changing water use dynamics [ Harlan et al ., ; Hollis , ; Lindsay et al ., ; Liu et al ., ; Tang et al ., ], which could impact participation in a market for water conservation and create significant uncertainty for water managers. In addition, the traditionally fragmented and independent nature of water utilities may present barriers to a perfectly competitive market, leading to outcomes that differ from those expected under ideal assumptions [ Giuliani and Castelletti , ; Hughes and Pincetl , ].…”

Fees and governance: Towards sustainability in water resources management at schools in post-apartheid South Africa

“…Although past studies have utilised several data sources, for example, municipal data, they are known for being inaccurate and unreliable (Datta et al, 2015;Ferraro and Price, 2013). Another data source frequently employed is smart water meters (Fielding et al, 2012;Gurung et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2016). However, smart water meters have only recently been introduced in South Africa, and not yet for schools.…”