Using an Agent-Based Model to Characterize How Communication Strategies Affect Time-to-Adoption of Water Efficiency Campaigns in a Canadian City

ABSTRACT

There is often a delay between the time when a water efficiency campaign is introduced and the time of its adoption. Municipalities want to know how long it will take to reach adoption targets to project their water revenues. The aim of this paper was to examine to what extent communication strategies can affect the time-to-adoption of water efficiency campaigns in a Canadian water system. Agent-based modelling was used to characterize the impact of mail-in leaflet and social media communication strategies on the time-to-adoption and water savings of a fixture rebate and water conservation campaign proposed in the City of Kingston, Canada. Results showed that the fixture rebate campaign produced shorter adoption times than the conservation campaign since it allowed households to save water without changing their behaviour. The campaign target of 3500 participating homes resulted in an average water saving of 687,000 L/d at full adoption.

KEYWORDS:

• Agent-based model
• communication strategy
• water-efficiency campaign
• time-to-adoption
• water savings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada (CA) [RGPIN/05104-2014].

Notes on contributors

Alexandre Tourigny

Alexandre Tourigny is a Civil Engineer at the firm J.L. Richards & Associates Limited.

Yves Filion

Yves Filion is an Environmental Engineering Profesor in the Dept. of Civil Engineering at Queen’s University.