Coliban Water WaterSmart Behaviour Change Project aimed to establish the most effective methodologies to achieve behaviour change in residential water consumption.

The program targeted areas in the greater Bendigo area with a history of higher consumption, specifically the suburbs of Strathdale/Flora Hill and Kangaroo Flats. The approach focused on educating householders through information and education.

Recruitment via direct mail commenced in January 2009 and 805 households agreed to participate. Initial phone surveys were conducted in February, to gather water consumption, water saving and demographic information.

House visits distributed buckets which contained: shower timer, water saving showerhead, food dye to pour in cistern to identify leaks, nine litre tap aerator, nine booklets of information, and coloured dots for cistern to help identify single flush for Kids. Further information relating to large water consuming objects such as swimming pools etc as well as the number and ages of children in the home was also provided. All site visits were completed by August 2009.

Two follow up surveys followed to gauge the value of the site visit and also the perceived relevance of products and information provided.

Regular meter readings were also carried out to track changes in water consumption. A control group of 100 residents from Strathdale/Flora Hill and Kangaroo Flats had been selected and their meter reads were recorded to enable comparisons. To accompany this, participants were asked to manually read their own meters so that further comparisons could be drawn and so that they could learn to understand (and therefore exert greater control over) their usage patterns.

The project concluded with a phone survey to measure the difference in habits of those who remained in the project and if this could be accredited to the project. These surveys were conducted in December 2009.

Water consumption of participants decreased by an average of 1.4% per quarter compared to the control group whose consumption decreased 0.6%.

Education was consistently named as the major influence for improving water conservation awareness and was also named as the number one requirement for improving water conservation in the future.