Water Consumption Behavior Research Articles

Investigation of sustainable water consumption behavior within the framework of value belief norm

Investigation of sustainable water consumption behavior within the framework of value belief norm

Fast in the pandemic, durable after droughts, inequal during economic downturn. A 20 year multi-dimensional retrospective analysis of water demand change in Southern California

Determining changes in water consumption behavior due to recurring external stressors (e.g. droughts and socio-economic fluctuations) and previously unseen shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic can support future demand-side management (DSM) programs and identifying vulnerable social groups. Yet, most studies analyzing external drivers of water consumption change are noncomparative as they examine only one stressor at the time, mainly droughts. Here we develop a multi-dimensional retrospective analysis (MDRA) to quantify residential water consumption changes in Southern California over the last two decades under compound hydroclimatic, economic, and pandemic stressors. We then uncover what socio-economic groups relate to predominant behavioral changes under each stressor. We observe a long-lasting decreasing water consumption trend for more than 76% of the analyzed households. Socio-economically vulnerable households were more likely to reduce water consumption during the economic and pandemic stressors. Differently, affluent neighborhoods tended to increase water consumption during or after droughts and the pandemic. Our MDRA supports utilities and policy makers to discern the impacts of different stressors on water demand and helps to identify social and economic sensitivities across a service area to develop adaptive DSMs and assistance programs.

Relationship of Religiosity and Commitment with Tendency to Save Water Among Women in Yazd in 2022

Background: Water is one of the most valuable environmental factors that play a significant role in human life and health. Domestic fresh water is a basic need for human well-being and economic activities. Objectives: The present study investigated the relationship between religiosity and commitment to the tendency to save water among women in Yazd in 2022. Methods: This descriptive-analytical research was carried out in 2022. The research population included all housewives and working women who visited health centers in Yazd City. Three hundred fifty people were randomly selected. The data were collected using 3 questionnaires on the tendency to save water, religiosity, and commitment, which had been used in a similar study. The data were analyzed using SPSS24 software using Pearson correlation coefficient tests, descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-test. Results: The mean age of the studied women was 33.05 ± 3.62. The mean scores of the tendency to save water, religiosity, and commitment were 42.18 ± 5.14, 41.67 ± 6.35, and 35.11 ± 6.84, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the tendency to save water score and economic status. The correlation matrix showed a significant positive correlation between the tendency to save water, religiosity, and commitment. Conclusions: Cultural factors such as religiosity and commitment or sense of responsibility, as two different elements that form people's attitudes, affect water consumption behavior. These results are much more important for married women in Yazd City because they have an educational role and are influenced by both religious and citizenship cultures.

Decision Support Strategies for Household Water Consumption Behaviors Based on Advanced Recommender Systems

Water is one of the most important factors that can influence human health. Therefore, constant monitoring of water consumption is essential to maintain a balance of water demand. A recommendation system represents a major challenge, but with huge potential for the water industry, providing consumers the most efficient ways to conserve water based on their data collected from smart water meters. This paper proposes a novel recommendation system design architecture that promotes water conservation behavior among residential consumers from urban areas. We analyzed 480,000 data samples from several households with different profiles to generate personalized recommendations for each household and encourage consumers to adopt measures to raise awareness and reduce water consumption. Moreover, data were collected from three different measurement points in the household (cold_sink, hot_sink, and toilet), with a sampling time of 60 s. The proposed recommendation system implements collaborative filtering combined with a set of rules to generate recommendations based on the consumption patterns of similar households. The results are promising, offering personalized feedback that could help change the consumption behavior of households if the recommendations made are followed.

Behavior of household water consumption in Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Populations have changed their habits and consumption as a result of COVID-19. In the case of Mexico City, this situation has possibly led households to purchase more products such as bottled water and to consume the same amount or less tap water. This behavior was confirmed by analyzing tap water consumption data before and during the arrival of COVID-19 using Pearson chi-square, and by conducting a survey of bottled and tap water consumption and analyzing that data with a bivariate econometric model. It was found to be related to the perception of poor-quality service. Consequently, tap water consumption will not always increase when health emergencies such as COVID-19 occur, but rather, this will depend on other environmental variables. Therefore, public water policies should be aimed at offering and ensuring a continuous supply of good quality water, as well as providing clear and objective information to prevent this type of behavior

Urban residential water and electricity consumption behavior: A systematic literature review

Consumer behavior is an understudied determinant of residential water and electricity demand and, when studied, capturing, measuring, and quantifying attitudes and behaviors is often problematic. This research explores behavioral determinants of the demand for water and electricity, contributing a set of categories and items that may be useful for understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to consumption and constructing valid scales. These results may help researchers capture the complexity of consumer behavior regarding water and electricity and decision-makers in designing tailored demand management strategies.

Water consumption behaviour and the use of technology among households in Durban, South Africa

Abstract Freshwater resources remain under constant pressure due to population growth, economic development, and changing weather patterns. Water supply utilities generally struggle to keep up with the growing demand for freshwater resources and consequently adopt demand management policies to address supply challenges. As water consumers, households can play a major role in water conservation. This paper examines the impact of biographic characteristics on water consumption behaviour and the adoption of water-efficient technologies in the city of Durban, South Africa. Probit regression models are estimated using survey data collected from 300 household heads sampled across the city. Among other results, the study finds income as the most consistent determinant of water consumption behaviours and the adoption of water-efficient technologies. Furthermore, the level of education was also found to be a consistent determinant of the adoption and installation of water-efficient technologies. These results are significant and serve to guide water utilities when implementing demand management water policies.

Sustainable water consumption and water‐saving behaviours: A review of consumers' environmental and economic concerns in Turkey

AbstractWater, which plays an important role in human life, has been depleted as a result of changing consumption patterns, climate change and increasing population, and water scarcity has emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing the world in the coming years. One solution to this problem is to make more efficient and sustainable use of existing water resources. In this context, the study aims to investigate the effects of consumers' environmental and economic concerns on sustainable water consumption behaviour, as well as the mediating role of water‐saving behaviour in these effects. For this purpose, it was discovered that environmental and economic concerns have positive effects on sustainable water consumption behaviour as a result of an analysis of data collected from 591 consumers in Turkey via the online survey method; it was determined that environmental concerns have no effect on water‐saving behaviour, whereas economic concerns have a positive effect on water‐saving behaviour. According to the findings of the mediation analysis, water‐saving behaviour only serves to mediate the effect of economic concerns on sustainable water consumption behaviour.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice: Analysis of Water Consumption Behavior in Urban Vehari

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice: Analysis of Water Consumption Behavior in Urban Vehari

Designing and calibrating an agent‐based platform to evaluate the effect of climate variables on residential water demand

AbstractMany Iranian metropolises, including Shiraz, are situated in arid and semi‐arid regions, lacking sufficient renewable water resources. In recent years, climate changes, including drought and rising temperatures, have led to changes in water supply and demand. Given the necessity and importance of urban water supply, this study investigates the impact of different climate scenarios on residential water demand. Many studies, in their models, do not consider the social interactions between household water consumers and the change in their consumption behaviour, which serves as a fundamental drawback. Thus, the present research attempts to propose an agent‐based framework by modelling social interactions via the diffusion process to investigate water consumption behaviour efficiently. The model is calibrated and applied to Shiraz City in Iran, according to the data from 2006 to 2019, and it is used to simulate each scenario for the following years until 2032. The findings show that temperature has a positive and significant effect on residential water consumption; yet, rainfall negatively affects water consumption. The simulation results of these scenarios for temperature increase or decrease and rainfall changes are estimated. In addition, the developed agent‐based platform can be easily calibrated and adjusted based on the data of any other city to simulate water demand estimation under different climatic and even economic scenarios. Urban water managers can benefit from such estimates to plan future infrastructure development and proactive management of seasonal water resources under the growing pressure of potential climate change because construing the sensitivity of seasonal water consumption to climate conditions is essential to respond to variations in demand.

Profiling urban water consumption using autoencoders and time-series clustering techniques

Nowadays, water utilities face the rising challenge of ensuring water availability amidst a rapidly growing society and a shifting climate. Our research aims to develop a household clustering solution based on water consumption behaviour in Southwest England, to enable utilities to identify different profiles and enhance customized control of household consumption, resulting in improved resource management. The solution is composed of three modules. The first one is based on a K-Means clustering model, designed to group domestic water use behaviours. This module uses the Dynamic Time Wrapping algorithm as a similarity mechanism to process the high-resolution water meter data. In parallel, the second module processes the market segmentation data through an Autoencoder, a specific Neural Network architecture used to reduce the high dimensionality of such data to a low dimension dataset by extracting its latent encoded space. Finally, to assemble the final household water use profiles, a blending K-Means algorithm is used to merge previous modules outputs, based on the Euclidean distance. The solution provides insightful information to water companies to better understand consumer behaviour, habits, and routines.

Knowledge–Behavior Gap in Tap Water Consumption in Puerto Rico: Implications for Water Utilities

The impacts of climate-related hazards are becoming a major concern for many people worldwide, especially those in vulnerable areas such as Puerto Rico. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria caused severe disruption to the island’s drinking water supply due to power outages, causing major problems for utility companies. This led to water insecurity, particularly among residents, who could not access safe, reliable, adequate, and affordable drinking water. Disaster-related water insecurity challenges are coupled with widespread public mistrust of tap water, yet some residents still consume tap water despite the mistrust. Alternatively, a portion of those who trust the tap water quality choose not to consume it. This knowledge–behavior gap needs to be explored to understand tap water consumption behaviors in the context of mistrust and insecurity. This study’s main goal was to identify why residents mistrusted their tap water and their behaviors in response to or despite mistrust. Data collection included household surveys and interviews with residents (n = 154) from May 2022 to July 2022. Thematic qualitative analysis shows residents generally mistrust tap water because of its poor quality over the past decade based on its palatability properties (taste, color, and smell). In addition, people trust or mistrust tap water because of their lived personal positive or negative experiences with the water utility service in Puerto Rico. This study can be used to develop strategies to address water insecurity and understand public trust in the tap water supply provided by water utilities. Ultimately, this research emphasizes the need for more studies to explore the knowledge–behavior gap in order to understand why some people consume tap water despite the mistrust and vice versa.

Water Consumption Assessment of Mangosteen: A Bottom-Up Approach

A water consumption assessment using a bottom-up approach is applied in this research; the smallest level of water consumption assessment shows the water consumption behavior at the farm level of 55 mangosteen farms in the Khlung District of Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, in the production year 2019. The findings revealed that the average water footprint (WF) was 774.60 m3/ton, which was divided into a green water footprint of 519.04 m3/ton and the blue water footprint of 255.56 m3/ton. Stage 5 was the mangosteen’s growth stage that had the highest WF: this stage was the fruit’s maturation period, whose WF was equivalent to 41.16% of the yearly water consumption. The WF of mangosteen data for the production year 2019 is a crucial baseline that will enable farmers to understand the actual water consumption in mangosteen production at the farm level. It will be feasible to determine the trend of changing water use, particularly if the mangosteen WF data is regularly gathered each year and it has led to appropriate water consumption planning per the needs of the mangosteen. Furthermore, this research also raised farmers’ awareness concerning the water consumption of mangosteen production.

Household flow detection using FEAT (flow estimating accelerometer-thermometer) device

The use of IoT devices in water end use disaggregation verification is an emerging field which offers benefits over conventional approaches, in terms of cost, accuracy and scalability. Having reliably disaggregated water appliance consumption data will enable smart water meter data to be used in household water conservation approaches and for understanding water consumption behaviours. The FEAT device provides a low cost, easily applied and scalable solution that is demonstrated to work even for very low flow conditions of 0.03 l/s. The FEAT device is a combination of a battery, Wi-fi board and MPU6050 sensors providing multi-modal accelerometer and thermometer data. The study places 7 of these FEAT devices onto hot and cold water pipes leading to a shower, which is operated 4 times in a high flow situation, 0.13 l/s, and 4 times in a low flow situation, 0.03 l/s. The data is then analysed and compared with a flow logger to determine if the FEAT device can detect when a domestic appliance is using water. There are limiting cases where the level of noise or external interference limits distorts the data, obscuring the distinguishable peaks in the data due to the similarity of the values. By using high and low pass filtering methods it was possible to enhance the peaks but there are still situations where peaks cannot be detected: for example, if a rigid pipe is not able to vibrate easily or if a hot water boiler is not triggered due to the low flow rate. However, the results show it should be possible to overcome these limiting cases, as it is much less likely for both the vibration and temperature data to be adversely affected by noise or external influences simultaneously, therefore decreasing the effect of noise and external influences. In conclusion, this research paper demonstrates that FEAT devices are a low cost, easily applied and scalable solution for detecting flow. By using high and low pass filtering, placing sensors on freely moving pipes and through the use of multi-modal verification, the FEAT device is shown to work on both metal and plastic pipes even in the lowest flow situations of 0.03 l/s. Therefore the FEAT device is a suitable solution for appliance identification in disaggregation verification datasets.

Drinking water and health assessment in a Northern Arizona community

Arizona is a mineral rich state that relies on a mix of surface and ground water supplies for drinking water requirements. Small, rural water systems relying on groundwater frequently encounter elevated metal(loid) measures, particularly inorganic arsenic (As +3, +5). Such contaminant occurrences can be associated with adverse health outcomes including cancers. The Hopi Environmental Health Project examined drinking water quality and water consumption behaviors from 76 homes on Hopi lands over a four-year period. Water samples were analyzed for 28 elements and compared to US Environmental Protection Agengy (EPA) maximum contaminant levels (MCL). Only municipal/piped water had a mean arsenic concentration (11.01 µg/L) exceeding the MCL (10.0 µg/L). All other water types and elements occurred below MCL when detected. A lifetime cancer and hazard quotient associated with arsenic consumption through each water type was performed and piped/municipal water was found to carry the greatest risks (9.96 cases per 10,000 people). Results from this study showed the potential for multiple contaminants to be present in drinking water from Hopi lands and the need for further health assessment of routine exposure to low doses of contaminant mixtures through drinking water.

Assessment of Household Rainwater Harvesting Systems in the Southwestern Coastal Region of Bangladesh: Existing Practices and Household Perception

This study aims to assess the post-installation rainwater management issues associated with household RWH systems in the southwestern coastal regions of Bangladesh. A face-to-face questionnaire survey (including free listing) was administered to over 300 households in the Khulna and Satkhira districts to understand the water consumption behavior of users, operation and maintenance of the RWH system components, governance and capacity-building needs, and overall perception. It was found that the current capacity of most household storage tanks is insufficient to meet the year-round water demands (cited by 151 users; Smith’s Salience Index (SSI) = 0.671), and around 53% of the users relied on another water source besides the RWH system. The users frequently cleaned various components of the RWH system, although they did not pay much attention to cleaning the roof catchment. Most users did not have sufficient knowledge of water treatment methods (cited by 10 users; SSI = 0.033) or water quality testing protocol (cited by 29 users; SSI = 0.084). Proximity to the house (cited 222 times by the users, SSI = 0.589) is considered the primary benefit of the RWH system. The absence of adequate functional components (cited by 56 users; SSI = 0.170) and having to share water with other households (cited by 23 users; SSI = 0.068) were highlighted as the two main problems associated with the use of the RWH system. The users also highlighted the lack of training on operation and maintenance (O&M) and the absence of monitoring support. This study provides clues to strengthening existing RWH system intervention programs in the water-challenged regions of Bangladesh.

Exploring behavioral responses to a residential water tariff reform

Water demand is often found to be relatively price-inelastic, with substantial percentages of water consumption irresponsive to price changes. This does not mean that households are insensitive to price changes or unresponsive to tariff reforms. In order to explore the latter, and using Latent Class Models, we have classified households into a series of distinct types according to how they switch between consumption tiers in response to changes in their water tariff. We then identified key drivers of this switching behavior, proposing that not only tariff-related variables but also sociodemographic, attitudinal, and information conditions define switching profiles. Our empirical exercise exploits information on water consumption and tariffs from 878 households in Granada (Spain) for the years 2010 and 2011 (when a new tariff structure was implemented), as well as a survey that collected additional information about households characteristics. • We classify households into five distinct groups base on their water consumption behavior after a tariff reform. • The group of households who reduce their consumption are more likely to be concerned about the environment. • The groups who are less likely underestimating their bill exhibit an inverse link between water prices and consumption. • The group predicted to be largest switched to a higher consumption tier, even though that led to an increase in their marginal price.

A Review on Household Water End-Use Consumption to Mitigate the Urban Water Crisis: Insight from Various Cities in Indonesia

The present paper reviews the recent perspectives of end-use studies as a part of urban water crisis mitigation within the past decade in various regions in Indonesia. The paper integrates a critical review of water-end use consumption from five major islands in Indonesia. Comparative methods were used to determine the domestic water consumption behaviour from the collected data from 2013 to 2020. Furthermore, the collected data were classified into two major groups (i.e., regions on Java Island and regions on non-Java Island). At the end, this review reflected a different pattern between domestic water consumption in various socio-economic regions in Indonesia and expected to provide strategies that could be used to mitigate the urban water crisis in the future.

397 Young Scholar Award Talk: Detecting Livestock Welfare Concerns and Production Issues Using Accelerometer and Global Positioning Systems

Abstract Monitoring behavior changes of livestock may help producers expedite intervention and treatment in both intensive and extensive systems. Sensor technologies can identify behavioral trends, offering the potential to detect abnormal behavior associated with health status and animal welfare changes. The aim of recent studies was to investigate behavior deviations using tri-axial accelerometers and global positioning systems (GPS). Accelerometers were effective tools in determining behavior changes due to the onset of illnesses and parturition. Eight Brahman-cross heifers were fitted with accelerometers to study water consumption behavior. Two of the heifers were diagnosed with Bovine Ephemeral Fever, which symptoms include lameness and stiffness. Movement Intensity (MI), a metric calculated from accelerometer axis data, was lower (P ≤ 0.01) during the day of disease diagnosis compared to 48 h prior. Ten ewes were each fitted with HerdDogg biometric accelerometers, with five ewes also fitted with accelerometers to investigate behavior before and after illness caused by the unintentional feeding of mold-contaminated feedstuffs. Activity levels were lower for days 1 to 4 after feeding (P < 0.05) than day -4 to 0 before feeding. Thirteen Debouillet ewes, with accelerometer ear tags, were used to determine the ability of random forest machine learning techniques to accurately identify and predict parturition-related behavior. Prediction models were able to predict seven mutually-exclusive behaviors and active vs. inactive behavior with 66.7% and 87.2% accuracy, respectively. The use of GPS tracking can help identify proper pasture rotation timing. Thirty-two and twenty-nine cattle were fitted with GPS collars in central Arizona to evaluate the temporal changes in association patterns on two herds of Corriente cattle managed under two different stocking densities: high stocking density (0.417 animal ha-1) and low stocking density (0.123 animals ha-1), respectively. Half-weight index (HWI) value was calculated for each pair of GPS-tracked cattle to determine the time cattle spent within 75 m and 500 m of others. Cattle within both pastures exhibited low mean association values (HWI < 0.25) at both spatial scales at the beginning of the study with increasing levels of independence throughout the study. Cattle dispersed throughout the study (P < 0.01) and traveled farther from water (P < 0.01), likely in search of forages. The combination of GPS and accelerometers can improve detection of welfare issues. Seventeen cattle were tracked with both sensors and sixteen cattle tracked with only GPS across two years to determine the potential of detecting water system failures. Movement intensity was greater (P = 0.03) and cattle remained closer to water (P = 0.01) on the days of simulated water failure compared to control days. Real-time sensors have the potential to provide caretakers notification of changes in livestock behavior that can occur due to disease, parturition, or infrastructure failure.

Household behavioral intention, environmental habit and attitude related to efficient water management: an empirical analysis on pro-environmental behavior among urban residents

Abstract The management of water utilities in urban contexts, which are particularly prone to water shortages and where future water security is of the utmost importance, has become a challenging task for the majority of municipal and regional planners. The present study attempts to evaluate how environmental knowledge and values influence possible pro-environmental behavior with respect to household water consumption behavior, attitudes, and habits among 500 (n = 313) urban dwellers in an urban setting in Jiangsu Province, China. We adapted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to elucidate pro-environmental behaviors while exploratory factor and Spearman correlation analysis were applied to datasets elicited from respondents. The study establishes important positive correlations using Spearman's rank (r = 0.50) based on the findings of our empirical analysis, which suggest that individuals with strong environmental values and rich environmental knowledge are more likely to exhibit behaviors, attitudes and habits that result in effective household water use and management. Additionally, based on the magnitude of the factor loadings, the key results from principal factor analysis were as follows: efficient household water consumption is contingent on fixing household leaks (0.73) and replacing old shower fixtures and water-using appliances (0.66). Nevertheless, China's water resources are insufficient and require efficient management (0.66), the quality of tap water supplies is compromised and cannot be trusted (0.66) and there has been little to no improvement in water quality and availability in the past 10 years in China (0.69). This research reinforces the role of knowledge in shaping behavior, and has policy effects and could serve as a benchmark for measures to reduce household water use.