Exploring Attitudes and Household Culture to Encourage Water Conservation Behavior

Urbanization promotes the development of human civilization but brings great challenges, such as air pollution, lack of water resources, and environmental damage, to the natural environment. Water conservation effectively alleviates the lack of water resources. Existing studies mostly focus on water conservation behavior in urban areas and overlook rural areas. This study takes rural residents in Chengdu as the research object and selects four villages to conduct empirical research and fill this research gap. A total of 165 valid questionnaires are collected after face-to-face interviews. First, descriptive analysis is used to analyze the current situation of rural residents’ water conservation behavior. Second, exploratory factor analysis and the binary logistic regression model are used to explore the relationship between building characteristics, water conservation attitudes, and water conservation behavior. The results show that (1) the rural residents’ water conservation attitude plays an important role in water conservation behavior; “environmental values” is the most significant factor, followed by “saving money and joint participation;” (2) rural building characteristics such as layout of the kitchen and shower facilities significantly affect the water conservation behavior of rural residents. Based on the analysis, several suggestions are made for building a new water-saving rural area in Chengdu, such as strengthening the publicity and education of water-saving behavior and subsidizing water-saving facilities. This research provides a theoretical basis for local government departments to formulate relevant policies and serves as a valuable reference for the protection of water resources in other rural areas.

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Promoting Water Conservation: Where to from here?

Water ◽

10.3390/w10111510 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1510 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Magnus Moglia ◽

Stephen Cook ◽

Sorada Tapsuwan

Keyword(s):

Water Conservation ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Smart Metering ◽

Conservation Behavior ◽

Short Term ◽

Conservation Programs ◽

Recent Developments ◽

International Water ◽

Per Capita

This paper reports on a review of international water conservation efforts, but with a particular focus on the Australian context. The aim is to take stock of the current understanding of water conservation, in particular: what influences people’s decision to conserve water, what influences whether people persist with water conservation behavior and what contributes to awareness and familiarity of water conservation behaviors. We also explore how all these factors jointly can achieve water savings over time, and the efficacy of past efforts to save water. Subsequently, this is used to identify where leading practice for managing water conservation is heading, which we argue is the application of recent developments in behavioral science and advances in smart metering to personalize water conservation programs. To support individualized water conservation efforts, we need more longitudinal studies of water conservation behavior, a greater focus on behavioral science, as well as the development of modelling tools that embed insights and lessons of this research into decision support capability. This can help to develop the capacity to better implement water conservation programs that respond to short-term water scarcity crises, such as droughts, while also providing persistent reductions in per-capita water demand that can help meet strategic water planning needs, such as deferring or downsizing capital investment in supply infrastructure to accommodate demands associated with population growth.

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A longitudinal study of domestic water conservation behavior

Population and Environment ◽

10.1007/bf02208782 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 175-189 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Susan Moore ◽

Margot Murphy ◽

Ray Watson

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Conservation Behavior ◽

Domestic Water

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Factors influencing water conservation behavior among urban residents in China's arid areas

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2013.093 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 691-704 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Genying Chang

Keyword(s):

Water Conservation ◽

Theory Of Reasoned Action ◽

Reasoned Action ◽

Urban Residents ◽

Arid Areas ◽

Conservation Behavior ◽

Domestic Water ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Household Water ◽

Local Water

Insufficient academic attention has been paid to household water conservation behavior in arid and semi-arid areas of developing countries. Based on a questionnaire survey, this study analyzed factors influencing the water conservation behavior of urban residents in Zhangye City in China. Of the two variables addressed in the theory of reasoned action, attitudes toward water conservation had no obvious influence on water conservation behavior, whereas subjective norms did have an influence. Furthermore, general environmental concerns had no direct, significant influence on water conservation behavior. It has been argued that environmental motivational factors have a limited influence on water conservation behavior. The theory of reasoned action may not sufficiently explain domestic water conservation behavior in the study area, where the economy remains underdeveloped. Three contextual factors, beliefs regarding local water resources, incremental water conservation information and attitudes toward frugality, were significantly correlated with water conservation behavior.

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Classifying Residents who use Landscape Irrigation: Implications for Encouraging Water Conservation Behavior

Environmental Management ◽

10.1007/s00267-016-0706-2 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 238-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Laura A. Warner ◽

Alexa J. Lamm ◽

Joy N. Rumble ◽

Emmett T. Martin ◽

Randall Cantrell

Keyword(s):

Water Conservation ◽

Conservation Behavior

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Farmers’ Contributions to Achieving Water Sustainability: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis of Predicting Water Conservation Behavior

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su14010279 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 279

Author(s):

Bijan Abadi ◽

Girma Kelboro

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Resource ◽

Effect Size ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Social Background ◽

Perceived Behavioral Control ◽

Conservation Behavior ◽

The Relationship

This article intends to summarize the findings of studies on the relationship between farmers’ behavioral intentions (BI) and water-conservation behavior (WCB) using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A systematic review of transcripts obtained from Internet-based searching on reliable scientific databases (e.g., SID, ProQuest, Springer, Science Direct, John Wiley, Sage, Taylor & Francis, Emerald Insight, and Google Scholar) was followed by outfitting data for the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. Data from a total of 28 studies on WCB were synthesized and analyzed through the CMA procedure. The resulting evidence demonstrates that the total and summarized estimate point (i.e., correlation) for the associations of attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SNs), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) with BI was 0.46, 0.36, and 0.26, respectively (r(t)PBC < r(t) SNs < r(t)ATT → BI). Furthermore, the effect size of the relationship between PBC and WCB was 0.27. The largest effect size pertained to the relationship between BI and WCB (BI → WCB) (r(t)BI = 0.52). The take-home message of the article is that hypothetical statements of the TPB are confirmed, as would be hypothesized. These findings should still be regarded in the field of WCB research; thus, policymakers need to provide solutions and adapt their policy initiatives for water resource management based on these findings. For example, one of the solutions to improve water resource management based on the research results is to examine the views and realities constructed by farmers of water resources and related management styles before carrying out water resource management projects. Identifying the potential capabilities of farmers and their economic and social background to expand water-conservation behavior and the tendency and acceptance of water resource management project to be implemented is also an important requirement in making resource management projects effective. The use of various methods of the individual, group, and collective communication to interact with farmers combined with provision of extension training, as well as mobilizing and organizing farmers to facilitate effective management of water resources are recommended.

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