scholarly journals The Effect of Social Behavior on Residential Water Consumption

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1184
Author(s):  
Daniel Morales Martínez ◽  
Alexandre Gori Maia

We analyze how residential water consumption is influenced by the consumption of households belonging to the same social group (peer effect). Analyses are based on household-level data provided by the Brazilian Household Budget Survey and use an innovative strategy that estimates the spatial dependence of water consumption while simultaneously controlling for potential sources of sample selectivity and endogeneity. The estimates of our quantile regression models highlight that, conditional on household characteristics, the greater the household water consumption, the greater the peer effect. In other words, the overconsumption of residential water seems to be influenced mainly by the behavior of social peers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Buck ◽  
Maximilian Auffhammer ◽  
Hilary Soldati ◽  
David Sunding

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Ignacio Acuña ◽  
Cristián Echeverría ◽  
Alex Godoy ◽  
Felipe Vásquez

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Beal ◽  
A. Makki ◽  
R. A. Stewart

Rebounding water use behaviour has been observed in communities that have experienced plentiful water supply following a very dry period. However, the drivers of such rebounds in water consumption are varied and not well understood. Knowledge of such drivers can greatly assist managers towards proactive demand management, modelling and timely promotion of water efficient behaviours. Total and end-use residential water consumption has been tracked in South East Queensland, Australia for a sample of up to 252 homes in post-drought conditions (dam supplies growing but water restrictions continued, changed water use behaviours still ‘fresh’), and during and post-flooding conditions (eased restrictions, 100% dam capacity). Data on end-use water consumption trends using nearly 3 years of residential water end-use data have revealed several interesting patterns of consumption such as a delayed return to pre-drought use, the influence of climate and end-use specific rebounds (e.g. indoor versus outdoor use). The end-use data have helped to identify the drivers of rebounding water consumption which appear to include environmental cues (rainfall, temperature), social cues (e.g. government encouraging consumers to turn on tap) and a gradual general reduction in conservative water use behaviours. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this knowledge can be used to inform long-term demand management policy, particularly in variable climates.


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