Survey taps into household water use
Householders in the Bendigo area of the Coliban Water Region will be given the chance to have their say about what drives their water use behaviour, thanks to a research project by the Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities at La Trobe's Bendigo campus.
The Centre has received an ARC Linkage grant of $66,000 to survey six-hundred residents in the area and to compare their comments with a similarsized sample from South Australia.
'The aim of the project is to understand what is actually happening in households when it comes to using water and conserving it,' says principal researcher, Dr Bradley Jorgensen.
'Water is such a contentious issue and if changes are to be made to the supply side of the equation then we should understand the drivers of demand. For example, are people more or less willing to conserve water when plans are afoot to pipe water from other regions, desalinate water, or undertake some other type of action aimed to improve supply?'
Outcomes of the research will assist Coliban Water, a regional urban water corporation in Victoria, and the South Australia Water Corporation to make informed decisions about water management for residential households.
The approach by the La Trobe researchers springs from a belief that environmental issues are about people and that the attitudes and behaviours of waterusers are important to understand when decisions are being made that may affect water use.
The key, according to Dr Jorgensen, will be to discover the drivers of consumption. 'What distinguishes high and low users of water and their households, and how can conservation efforts by households be best supported?'
The survey will also look at the issue of trust.
'Is there mistrust of the State Government because some people perceive that planning has been poor? Is there a perception that corporations are more interested in selling water than they are in saving it? And, are people less inclined to save water unless they believe that everyone else is doing their fair share? Do these aspects of trust influence people's conservation attitudes and behaviours in their households?
'Ultimately people have to be consulted about water management policy if its success or failure rests on their cooperation and compliance,' the researcher says.