The WaterSmart voluntary behaviour change program delivered in Barwon Water’s service area was designed to complement initiatives in the ‘Next Stage of the Government’s Water Plan’. It used an innovative relationship-building approach, interacting with households in Geelong.

The concept

The concept behind the Barwon WaterSmart project was voluntary behaviour change - helping people to help themselves. The approach was to have a conversation with at least one person in each household designed to focus on people’s needs as they articulated them. The key question in the conversation was to ask people about ‘changes they wanted to make but hadn’t got around to.’ Then, instead of simply suggesting information or materials to assist in making the change, people were asked if they had thought of a way of making those changes. This meant that the solution was a collaboration of their ideas and those of the WaterSmart facilitator.

The concept of voluntary behaviour change also had a focus on building changes over time – encouraging people to think (e.g. ‘now I’ve started mulching, what’s this about grey water?’). The approach was personal, but also designed to respect privacy of all individuals.

The purpose

The purpose of the program was to bring about change in water use, in fixtures and appliances and in the way people used water.

Context

The program took place in two suburbs of Geelong - Belmont and Highton. Belmont and Highton are Geelong’s two largest suburbs. The two suburbs represent 20 percent of all households in suburban Geelong. A control group in Grovedale was established and its households’ water consumption was also measured to allow evaluation of the consumption changes attributed to the project. During the program there were, in fact, several external factors that influenced water use ranging from television and poster campaigns, to the influence of the Target 155 initiative, to the effects of the February 2009 bushfires, reinforcing the importance of the control group.

These three suburbs (Belmont, Highton and Grovedale) exhibit a range of household demographics and water consumption levels, but on average their households are near to the mean for these parameters for suburban Geelong.

Within these suburbs, it was likely that there were a wide range of household types and for this reason the analysis considers differences such as the effects of household size, household structure and whether the house was owned or tenanted on the way behaviour changed.

The implementation of a voluntary behaviour change based WaterSmart program trialled a new approach to water conservation programs, at a time when many effects have occurred simultaneously:

• Water supplies are low, and drought conditions are continuing
• More water sources are being planned and delivered (e.g. Anglesea Borefield)
• People are asking for assistance to make changes.

The method

The program, which occurred between November 2008 and October 2009, was a ten month-long interaction with households.

The initial survey and conversation formed the key engagement point and the conversation included the following components:

• the initial survey: which not only gathered information on fixtures and appliances and water use, but also allowed the participant to have their water use on the top of their mind for the subsequent conversation
• the key question: ‘are there changes to the way you use water that you would like to make but haven’t got around to?’ (or something similar) – to establish an issue to talk about
• the stimulus for problem-solving: ‘have you thought of a way of solving that?’
• the facilitative process – where the conversationalist and participant worked out a solution
• the decision on what ‘tools’ or resources might assist in solving the problem, and
• the action plan – working out how the participant would begin to change once the tools are received.

Over one thousand households (1,156) in the Geelong suburbs of Highton and Belmont were engaged over the 10 months through:

• four phone calls from the WaterSmart team to each household
• mailing of desired information materials requested by each household, including lists of all information available as part of the WaterSmart program when requested
• the opportunity for them to contact the team by phone, email or mail at any time over the period Initial survey

The approach began and concluded with a survey which gave an understanding of people’s appliances and fixtures as well as their reported behaviour in relation to water use. There was a focus on both measuring and understanding reported behaviour change, as well as changes in use of water.

Results

People reported changes to appliances and fixtures as well as to their behaviour. Changes to their water use, based on meter readings, were also measured.

Recruitment and participation

Households in the target group were sent invitation letters and received recruitment phone calls. Of these, 1,518 had an initial conversation and agreed to complete the survey about water use, and 1,156 of these (76%) continued into the program as participants (i.e. took part in the conversation and also received tools). Of these, 943 (82%) participated in the final survey.

Appliances, fixtures and behaviours

Some of the excellent water-saving results achieved by households include:

• 93 per cent taking showers of four minutes or less in duration
• 90 per cent having drought tolerant garden plants
• 92 per cent washing full loads of clothing in the washing machine
• 69 per cent having water efficient showerheads in their bathrooms

Water use

Water use reduced slightly for participating households over the course of the program. However, incorporating further water consumption data into the analysis over the next 2 years will provide a better indication of the results achieved.

Conclusions

The program has shown that:

• The voluntary behaviour change program brought about significant changes in the way people used water, in terms of both fixtures and appliances, in their homes and their usage behaviours.
• There was a high level of satisfaction with the WaterSmart program, suggesting that people in the community were happy for Barwon Water to proactively engage and assist them in making changes to the way they use water.
• Over 20% of the community is willing to participate in a directengagement multi-contact water conservation program.
• A behaviour change program can complement retrofitting programs to achieve a reduction in water consumption.

The voluntary behaviour change method encouraged changes in areas other than water use – particularly energy use, recycling, and travel behaviour.