Water Conservation: A Guide to Promoting Public Awareness

Transcription

1 Water Conservation: A Guide to Promoting Public Awareness A. Introduction Security of freshwater is emerging as a global issue owing to steadily increasing use of limited resources by a growing population, coupled with diminishing availability due to inadequate management, deforestation and increasing pollution. To achieve a secure and sustainable water future, the efficiency of current water supply and usage needs to be improved. In the Asian and Pacific region, with one or two notable exceptions, it is common to find up to 50 per cent of treated and piped water either lost during distribution or wasted during use. Developing a culture of water conservation that utilizes existing supplies more efficiently would enable expensive new source development projects to be cancelled or at least postponed for several years. Water conservation refers to action taken to use water efficiently and has two parts: water resources conservation - efficient management, storage, allocation and transfer of raw water; and water supply conservation - distribution with minimal losses and consumption without wastage. Water conservation awareness (WCA) is an understanding of the need to use water efficiently at all stages from capture to consumption, in order to promote change in attitudes and behaviour with regard to water management and use. Except in a few countries that are successfully promoting WCA, overall awareness in the Asian and Pacific region is alarmingly low. This Guide explains the importance of WCA in integrated water resources management before focusing on a framework for promoting WCA to users of piped water supplies. It does not address in detail water conservation in agriculture, which is the largest water-user category, although most of the proposals can be adapted and applied to that sector. The Guide advocates a multi-step framework for preparing an overall strategy and designing WCA promotional activities, implementing the activities and monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness. Countries will need to adapt the proposals to suit their social, economic and cultural circumstances. The Guide is aimed at three broad groups of readers: politicians and policy makers; water planners and managers; and social marketers and educators. The objective is to help these groups to understand the need for water conservation in the potable water supply sector and how it may be approached, so that they can take part in WCA promotion to society as a whole. B. WCA strategy preparation Governments should first develop a broad national strategy for water conservation. This might acknowledge, for example, that sustaining water resources requires a nationwide effort in conservation to achieve a balance between supply and demand. It might also commit to integrated water resource management (IWRM) and to conservation promotion - improving supply-side management to reduce losses and introducing demand-side management to limit wastage. Eleven steps in a top-down approach are recommended to prepare a detailed strategy for promoting WCA, as follows.

2 Step 1 - Set up a managing committee (or board) to manage WCA promotion. Persons with skills in social marketing, public relations, education and communications are required in addition to water professionals. Step 2 - Identify stakeholders. The effectiveness of promoting WCA will be improved by taking account of the views of those with direct interests in both preparation and implementation of the strategy, and its success or failure. Step 3 - Analyse policy issues. Issues regarding political commitment, institutional strengths and weaknesses, reasons for water shortages and the affordability of the true cost of water should be analysed to assist in developing the WCA strategy. Step 4 - Review local factors. The WCA strategy recommended in this Guide should be adapted to local political, socio-economic, cultural, legal, environmental and geographic factors. Step 5 - Identify target groups. WCA should initially be promoted to main target groups such as politicians, water professionals, community leaders, teachers, the media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who will then assist in promoting it to the public. Step 6 - Identify partners and sponsors. Partners and sponsors may include: government agencies; water supply utilities; NGOs; similar campaign organizers; professional associations; multilateral agencies; and private companies keen to promote a socially-responsible image. Step 7 - Agree on aims and key messages. The committee should prepare aims and key messages for promoting WCA as a first step in designing specific campaigns, which will usually have two stages: raising awareness, and triggering behavioural change. Step 8 - Identify WCA promotion activities. Detailed activities can be planned using a logical planning framework - what are the issues to raise with each audience, which messages are important to deliver, and what are the most appropriate ways to deliver them. Step 9 - Set communication targets and timetables. Five years should be allowed for a WCA promotion programme to achieve a good level of awareness, within which several short-term campaigns for behavioural change can be scheduled. Step 10 - Set budget and secure funding. A budget and financing plan should be prepared on economic cost-benefit grounds and discussed with government, partners and potential sponsors to secure funding. Annual campaigning usually costs a few per cent of a water utility's budget. Step 11 - Set up project teams. When funding has been committed, the committee should recruit an overall project manager and establish project teams to implement specific WCA activities. The optimum team size is usually four to eight people. C. WCA programme implementation Organizational initiatives. Several initiatives are required to launch implementation of the WCA programme. An essential prerequisite is that responsibilities of the three tiers of government - national, provincial and local - be resolved in matters affecting WCA promotion. National government should demonstrate commitment to WCA by, for example, publicly launching the campaign and giving high-profile leadership to key events. It should also commit to stronger water law and ensure that its own departments and

3 agencies adopt good housekeeping and use water efficiently. To the extent that provincial and local governments have responsibilities for water, they too must be seen to embrace and actively promote conservation. Conservation starts at water sources and river basin management authorities must actively support WCA. Water supply utilities must reduce and control levels of non-revenue water (NRW) in supply networks. Demand-side conservation is unlikely to be successful if water users perceive their supply utility to be inefficient and wasteful. Community initiatives are necessary to develop a successful bottom-up approach for promoting WCA at grass-roots levels. Communities need to define local water issues and establish channels of communication with local leaders. Community involvement adds value to a WCA promotion programme by building local perspectives, values and expectations into decision-making. It also encourages long-term commitment of the community to programme ownership and a desire for its success. A proactive member of each community should act as facilitator and host agencies such as NGOs should be identified to provide administrative support. Education and information programmes are central to promoting WCA. This Guide focuses on three categories of people - water providers, water users, and children and students - but the methodology can easily be adapted to promote WCA to agricultural water-users. (i) Water providers are those having responsibility for planning and managing water supply. They should understand that freshwater is a limited resource and important to a country's overall economic development. Education should be based on seminars and workshops organized by the WCA managing committee, with selected staff sent to short- and medium-term technical and professional development courses in countries with a strong conservation culture. (ii) Water users in the context of this Guide are the public customers of water supply utilities, whose behaviour in using water must be changed to adopt conservation and efficient use. Household customers should be given practical tips for water-saving in the home, details of water-saving devices and information on the real cost of water services, either enclosed with their water bill or sent as separate mailings. Water audits should be provided free of charge to large consumers. Industrial customers should be shown the effect of potential cost savings on product price and competitiveness. Examples should be distributed and individual visits made to the larger water-using industries to carry out water audits and advise how water can be saved. Waste minimization programmes may also be promoted, showing that more water-efficient plant and better housekeeping can reduce water consumption and wastewater quantities. Commercial customers should be shown that business cost savings from reduced water consumption can be significant. Water audits should be carried out and information distributed on water-saving devices. Waste minimization programmes can also be effective. Institutional customers should be exhorted to set an example in a government-led WCA strategy. Water audits and advice on water-saving devices should be used to support the message given by government under its organizational initiatives. (iii) Educating children and students inculcates a future society with a water conservation culture. It also helps to educate present society when children return home and show their families what they have learned. Formal and informal curricula

4 in schools, colleges and universities provide the medium and several considerations are required as follows: Curricula development and finding ways to introduce the subject must be addressed jointly by the managing committee and education officials. Experience shows that water awareness and conservation education is best designed to relate to existing subjects being taught and that an interactive and hands-on approach is effective for young children. Material development is best managed as a subproject by water professionals and education specialists, assisted by graphic designers. Jigsaws, board games, quizzes, audio tapes, CDs, slides and stories with popular TV or comic-strip heroes can be effective. Teachers must undergo preparatory, in-service training and be provided with a curriculum guide, background information, student worksheets and other material for class work. Support from water utilities is valuable. They can provide teacher and student packs, establish student visitor centres and mobile exhibitions, organize educational visits to water facilities and provide guest speakers to schools. They can also offer short-term training courses for teachers and provide holiday working experience for older children. Special techniques and skills are required in WCA promotion, principally social marketing and communications. Social marketing is adapted from commercial marketing when there is a message to sell, as opposed to a product. It requires a high level of social awareness and depends on finding the right communications tools to suit each marketing context - selling the message successfully to a specific audience. Each marketing context must be analysed so that the right communication method is used. Communication tools include: word of mouth; publicity and public relations; education; information dissemination; sales promotion; merchandising with eyecatching packaging and presentation; advertising; exhibitions; and building corporate identity and brand image. Skill and experience in working with the media are needed, since a badly-projected WCA campaign will probably fail. Public relations departments of governments and water utilities should spend time enlisting media support by educating their executives about water and the need for WCA. Implementing a WCA programme presents water utilities with an opportunity for capacity building. Most utilities will initially need to recruit external social marketing and communication skills but will be able to develop their own capabilities through transfer of know-how. The role of women in WCA programmes can be significant since they are often household water managers and can bring improved potential for family economic and social development. Women's organizations in many Asia-Pacific countries have an extended reach into community life to help in disseminating WCA messages. Reaching illiterate groups requires techniques that rely more on interpersonal communication and extensive use of graphics in information material. Children who have learned to read can be a good source of WCA information to illiterate parents. Enforcement of mandatory standards and regulations relating to water conservation is needed to support voluntary conservation. Laws must be marketed to all water

5 users with simple, illustrated information sheets in layman's terms, so that they are fully understood, and complete regulations should be available for public inspection. The public should be left in no doubt that, after a grace period, regulations will be enforced if there is insufficient voluntary conservation. D. Monitoring and evaluating effectiveness To maintain political and financial support for WCA promotion, it is necessary to monitor and evaluate programme inputs and outputs to demonstrate a positive trend. The cost of monitoring and evaluation should be included in the starting budget. Two interrelated aspects need to be monitored and evaluated: delivery of the programme itself; and results achieved. The former is part of programme management and will enable logistical adjustments to keep the programme on track, while the latter takes more effort but is needed to demonstrate programme success. Results depend to a large extent on delivery and this is where the two aspects of monitoring come together. Monitoring and evaluating results requires establishment of pre-programme benchmarks. Quantitative benchmarks - water supply and consumption figures - can usually be established from historic data, while qualitative benchmarks - levels of awareness, attitudes and behaviour of water-users - must be assessed by a baseline socio-economic survey. Follow-up surveys should be conducted annually to measure changes in qualitative indicators. Quantifying reductions in water usage may need special techniques, such as monitoring consumption of a sample of metered premises, to eliminate the effects of legitimate increases in consumption and seasonal variations. Performance indicators should be used to measure supply-side efficiency improvements by water utilities. NRW levels, unit production costs and the number of customer complaints are typical of indicators that can be used. E. Recommendations (i) At a time of increasing stress on water resources, governments and water supply utilities should adopt and promote a water conservation culture to all water providers and water users. (ii) Water conservation starts with development of water resources and an integrated approach should be adopted for their efficient and sustainable management. (iii) Government and public and private water utilities should lead in promoting WCA. (iv) Together with water professionals, people skilled in social marketing, education and communication are required in designing and delivering WCA programme activities. (v) Monitoring and evaluation of WCA campaigns should be built into the overall strategy. (vi) Supply-side conservation must not be forgotten and the achievements of water service providers should be monitored through evaluation of performance indicators. (vii) This Guide provides a framework that should be used in preparing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating a WCA promotion programme, or in reviewing the content and approach of ongoing programmes. Adapted from: UNESCAP. Water Conservation: A Guide to Promoting Public Awareness. Water Resources Series No [Accessed 24 July 2006]

6 Public Awareness on Water Conservation and Water Efficiency Public information and education is a critical water conservation priority. A multistakeholder and participatory approach involving water users and service providers, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations needs to be encouraged. Raising awareness of water issues at all levels is deemed critical in the successful implementation of water conservation programmes and activities. It is anticipated that water conservation activities, such as water loss reduction programmes and public awareness campaigns for rational water use could result in significant water savings. The saved water could then be made available to the under previlidged people who lack sustainable access to water supply services, while new and expensive projects for developing additional water supply sources could be cancelled or postponed for at least several years. To sensitize and generate a greater degree of awareness to the strategic importance of water conservation in ESCAP member countries a guidebook on the promotion of public awareness of water conservation is being prepared. It is a collaborative effort involving ESCAP and the experts from several countries of the region under a project funded by the Government of Japan. The outline of the guidebook was discussed and agreed upon at a seminar held on May 2000, while at the other seminar, held on 9-10 November 2000, a draft of the guidebook was discussed and amended by participants. The guidebook is planned to be published in May Adapted from: UNESCAP (2002). Public Awareness on Water Conservation and Water Efficiency. [Accessed 24 July 2006]