Understanding the vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity of households in rural Victorian towns in the context of long-term water insecurity

Abstract

While the range of impacts of a changing climate on farming communities has been extensively studied in Australia, little is known about how individuals and households in small rural towns adapt to the effects of long-term water insecurity. The health and wellbeing impacts of climate variability may be experienced as direct or indirect health impacts or as reduced access to health and other services as reduced economic viability affects rural towns. Identifying risk factors for vulnerability and local measures and practices that will reduce health and wellbeing impacts offers evidence for climate change adaptation policy direction at the local, state and national level. This paper discusses the results of a study that aimed to improve understanding of the vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity of rural communities at the household scale. Focus groups with town residents and key informant interviews were conducted in three rural towns in Western Victoria experiencing differing water security challenges during a period of “drought”. Perceived health and wellbeing impacts and the differing ways in which residents adapted their lives to accommodate these changes were explored. The study revealed a range of physical, mental, oral health and food security impacts on health and wellbeing. There were clear gender differences in the ways that men and women identified, communicated and dealt with these impacts. Perceived water quality and cost were shown to be key determinants of acceptance of the small town reticulated water supply. The results of this study suggest that a history of conservatism, degree of community connectedness and communication, the small town ethic of self-reliance, and the openness of government to community involvement in decision making, planning and action around water supplies are important factors in determining resilience to threats to water security in small rural towns.

Keywords:

• Water security
• water-supply
• rural
• water use
• climate change adaptation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M S Stebbing

Dr Margaret Stebbing is the Senior Lecturer – Population Health in the Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, located within the School of Rural Health in Moe, Victoria. Her professional background is in nursing and public health practice and research. She has managed large and small population health research projects and public health and primary health care programs in rural and remote settings that include the Northern Territory, Nepal and China. Her current research interests include the health risk perceptions of technological change, health impacts of climate change and rural health workforce recruitment and retention. Margaret is an active member of the Victorian Branch of the Public Health Association of Australia and a member of the Ecology and Environment and One Health Special Interest Groups.

M Carey

Marion Carey is a public health physician specialising in environmental health. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor (Research) at Monash University and was the VicHealth Senior Research Fellow in Climate Change and Health at the Monash Sustainability Institute, and Program Leader of the Monash Climate, Biodiversity and Health Program. Previously she worked in the Victorian Department of Health as Senior Medical Adviser in Environmental Health. She was involved in the public health response to the 2009 Melbourne heat wave and Black Saturday bushfires, and in developing Victoria’s climate change and health policy. Her interests include the importance of biodiversity to human health, health care responses to climate impacts, vulnerability to extreme weather, health impacts of water insecurity, and the health impacts of fossil fuels.

M Sinclair

Dr Martha Sinclair (BSc (Hons) PhD) is a microbiologist and Senior Research Fellow in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. Martha has been involved in public health research on water since 1995, firstly with the Australian CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, and subsequently with Water Research Australia (WRA). She has been involved in a number of innovative research studies characterising health risks from both conventional drinking water supplies and alternative water sources such as recycled water, greywater and rainwater. Recent research has included characterising exposure to alternative water sources during non-potable uses, and epidemiological studies on health risks from drinking rainwater, and from exposure to recycled water in dual reticulation housing developments.

M Sim

Professor Malcolm Sim is an Occupational and Public Health Physician who is Director of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. His main research interests focus on the role of occupational and environmental exposures in the development of chronic diseases, such as cancer, respiratory disease, musculoskeletal disorders and psychological conditions. He is a Chief Investigator on the NHMRC funded Centre for Population Health Research on Electromagnetic Energy, the NHMRC funded Capacity Building Grant workplace public health, several other NHMRC and ARC funded studies, the Australian Mesothelioma Registry and several cohort studies.