Exploration of domestic water demand attitudes using qualitative and quantitative social research methods

Abstract

The sustainable evolution of the urban water system requires the recognition of uncertainty embedded in both climate and human behaviour. A challenge that water managers and policy makers need to tackle, is to understand the way the society’s water demand behaviour is affected. The inaccuracy between attitudes and behaviours and the cognitive association of water use to living standards, hinders the projection of society’s response to management’s measures. Thus, it is necessary to identify leverage points, where water demand management policies should aim their efforts. This work presents two parts of a social research held in Athens: quantitative questionnaire gathering information regarding the domestic water demand attitudes and behaviours; and a series of qualitative interviews aimed at exploring in-depth, the domestic water use attitudes, and behaviours. This work presents the design and results of both methods and the combination of the quantitative results with insights from the qualitative work.

Keywords:

• Water demand management
• domestic water demand behaviour
• social research methods

Notes

1. In 2012, the NGO MEDSOS conducted an online survey in 11 major cities of Greece, without however publishing results for the Athenian households.