Chapter 11 - Water efficiency in agriculture as a vital approach toward water management in rural areas

Abstract

The conditions that currently exist around the world, which have led to the necessity of reducing water usage, have generated this situation. It is necessary to have an awareness of people's attitudes about the behavior, as well as the obstacles that prevent people from adopting the behavior, in order to develop effective strategies for changing people's water-saving behaviors. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the behaviors and perspectives of rural and regional urban water towards water consumption. We build a conceptual model of the elements that have an impact on the amount of water that these consumers consume, including the carrier and barriers that prevent them from conserving water. Previously unidentified elements that appear to have an impact on water-use behavior include the source of water supply (groundwater as opposed to surface water), previous experience with water shortages, and faith in the water authority and government. Farmers wanted to be “water efficient” to keep their businesses viable and productive, while hobby farmers and residential users were “saving water” for more altruistic reasons. Another difference in the drivers for water conservation was found. Farmers wanted to be “water efficient” to keep their businesses viable and productive. The significance of these findings for the development of demand management techniques in this and other rural and regional locations can be found in the following sentence: Nevertheless, the conceptual model needs to be tested in order to identify whether or not it accurately reflects the elements that influence water-saving behaviors in rural and regional locations.