A behavioural response to the water crisis

How can we guide some groups of people to alter their behaviour in order to benefit others? WASA speaks to Professor Syden Mishi from Nelson Mandela University about creating and sustaining social norms for water conservation.

Everybody is aware of the water crisis and the need to save water, and nobody wants to live a day without water. This is evident when there is a water outage – a municipality will receive an influx of calls and social media posts complaining about the lack of water and asking when it will be restored. But are people prepared to take steps towards saving water?” asks Professor Syden Mishi, associate professor and acting head of department: Economics, at Nelson Mandela University.

He adds that optimal decision-making requires having full information, the time to process the information, and the ability to do so in a split second. “This is where things fail; individuals do not have this capacity. For example, people plan to take a ‘quick shower’, but they do not time themselves when they are in the shower. People go to the gym to burn calories, but will frequently opt for taking an escalator over taking the stairs (where they can burn more calories). Individuals are not always rational.”

Understanding human behaviour drivers The unconscious mind is responsible for 80% of our decision-making. It is fast, instinctive and emotional. Only 20% of our thoughts are slow, deliberate and logical. Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that making people aware of the problem and offering a solution will translate into a desired action.

“Think about your own behaviour: does the fact that you should be doing something (like exercising regularly, eating healthier foods) translate into you doing it? Furthermore, many policies and interventions make the wrong assumption that if individuals are provided with the same information, they will process that information in the same way, resulting in an overall change in behaviour (water saving),” says Mishi.

Choice architecture Individuals make choices based on: • the available information • skills to process that information • available time to search and process that information • a comparison of their choice with the choices made by others • the implication a choice may have on their future and the future of others. “Imperfect information, cognitive limitations and time constraints can lead to an individual making a suboptimal decision. So, therefore, we need to carefully design the environment in which individuals are making choices, to help improve individual decision-making. One quick example is the knowledge of what is communicated, how (manner) it is communicated, and how often. The type of information, its design and the sequence help individuals to make the right decision. Simplicity is key. Detailed information is imperfect; it is timeconsuming to process,” explains Mishi.

Optimal decision-making requires having full information, the time to process the information, and the ability to do so in a split second

LIMITATIONS SOLUTIONS

• Individuals and businesses who are prepared to pay high water bills • Change the way the information is presented. Show how much money could be saved with a 20% reduction in water consumption, for example. Highlight a foregone sacrifice – what could have been bought with the money that was spent on water?

• Lack of punishment for high water consumption • Only talk about punishment if it can be implemented; focus on the penalty

• People who do not pay the water bills directly (students at a university, employees at an office) • The inability to observe and track water consumption (shared water meters, water bill part of rental contract, or simply lack of time to do so)

• Belief that others do not save water • The idea that if only a few people occupy a household, more water can be used • Highlight how increased water usage can increase tuition or rental fees, or impact on company profits, which could translate into smaller or no salary increases

• Provide the households with comparative information regarding their own consumption and the consumption of others. Are you using more water than your peers?

• Perception that municipalities do not respond timeously to water leaks

Table 1 Limitations and solutions examples • Strategic communication and showcasing the war on water leaks.

Share details like call log time, photos of people fixing the leak, photos of the fixed leak. What is the average time from receiving the log to completing the task? That can be an easy yardstick to measure how serious the municipality is in saving water

Creating social norms for water conservation Those responsible for managing or overseeing water demand at a large scale (municipalities, institutions, businesses) can follow these steps:

• Step 1: Understand water data – what is the water consumption level and how does it compare to the targets? Administrative data is powerful, as it reveals true behaviour on water usage.

• Step 2: Process that data and provide it in digestible bits. What group of people or users are consuming at what level?

• Step 3: Set new targets; identify minimal water consumption levels and communicate a percentage of water savings in understandable language and units.

• Step 4: Influence choices through strategic communications informed by choice architecture.

• Step 5: Monitor and evaluate whether behaviour is changing.

• Step 6: Scale up the entire process. “It is extremely important to recognise the individuals that have saved water beyond the required threshold.

There needs to be a confirmation and reinforcement of that good behaviour. Often, this is neglected and such individuals feel their efforts are not worth it, and revert to old habits (the status quo). This explains why a generic campaign to save water may not yield the intended results. Comparing behaviour with the behaviour of others motivates people to do the right thing,” states Mishi.

In general, individuals care for others and the future, and want to relate to those around them (social status). Decision-making is shaped by the way certain practices are viewed within a community. Therefore, effort should be made to understand such collective views and help correct them for optimal decision-making. For example, what is the social meaning of each possible water saving activity? If putting a brick in a toilet cistern is seen as low status, how can that be changed? Gathering and sharing information on how many other individuals are following the practice, how – on average – the strategy is helping them reach communicated targets, and what the savings in rand value are make for a good starting point.

In conclusion, Mishi adds that one must understand the available data and communicate it in the correct way, and this is the reason why data analytical skills are increasingly in demand. “Educating people does not necessarily change attitudes and behaviours. It is more effective to target behaviour.”

People go to the gym to burn calories, but will frequently opt for taking an escalator over taking the stairs (where they can burn more calories). Individuals are not always rational