Connecting the drops, connecting communities: fostering water conservation through effective communication and engagement strategies

Abstract

Water is central to all life on Earth. It is critical for the sustainability of ecosystems and living conditions. Water shapes lifestyles, defines habitation patterns and influences where people live. Water exerts a substantial impact on human communities and overall well-being. As the climate warms and the human population grows, water conservation is becoming an increasingly urgent topic. In response, effective communication and engagement about water conservation is crucial to help people understand the significance of coping, adapting to, and proactively responding to these challenges. Despite the growing focus on human-centred approaches to solving water conservation issues, empirical evidence remains scarce regarding when, where, and how to effectively connect with consumers, influence their behaviour, and drive meaningful change. Furthermore, there is limited understanding of how water sector practitioners and residential water consumers from both urban and regional backgrounds perceive the role of communication strategies that are essential for effective engagement in water conservation. This lack of insight extends to how these perspectives influence and shape ongoing water conservation efforts. This thesis aims to investigate the role of communications and engagement in water conservation, offering a synthesised perspective from both water sector practitioners and consumers. It presents the findings derived from a qualitative study of 40 interviews – involving 10 water sector practitioners and 30 residential water consumers. The interviews were conducted in Sydney, Canberra, and regional New South Wales in Australia and followed a semi-structured protocol employing both in-person and online techniques. The study followed a thematic analysis using qualitative data analysis software. The findings from this thesis offer insights into the gaps within communication and engagement strategies employed in water conservation, and highlight the urgency of collaborative policy development at a national level. Further, the results shed light on the gaps in knowledge and practices related to water conservation among urban and regional water consumers. These disparities are closely linked to individuals' perceptions of how they value water, which is shaped by their personal experiences with drought or their connections to land and income, influencing their affinity for water conservation. This thesis provides new insights into the environmental and social science scholarship on human agency in water conservation. It reveals the role of human agency as an enabler and argues that the agentic attributes in human behaviour can be harnessed at both individual (personal agency) and community (collective agency) levels to improve water literacy, build drought resilience and promote ongoing custodianship in water conservation. A key finding of this thesis highlights the effectiveness of a human-centric approach in the ongoing promotion of water conservation, where technology and engineering solutions must be rolled out in tandem with effective communications and engagement strategies. Given the importance of addressing both solutions (technological/engineering and communications/engagement) concurrently, this thesis proposes a framework based on the premise that human agency is a vital enabler in water conservation – especially when empowering individuals and communities to exert influence and maintain a sense of control in their individual and collective actions. These findings provide insights into issues that are not frequently considered in the formulation of integrated communications and engagement strategies and policy development in water conservation. This research aims to elevate the human element in water conservation, making it a more meaningful, personal and resonant cause for people.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Sora PARK (Supervisor), Mathieu O'NEIL (Supervisor), Ross THOMPSON (Supervisor), Charles LEMCKERT (Supervisor) & Thomas Mollenkopf (Supervisor)