Media Release
23 October, 2006
Water restrictions: you can lead a horse to water…
The Government’s approach to water conservation ─ imposing stringent
water restrictions ─ is a flawed approach, says UniSA’s
Jacques Metzer, Associate Professor of
Psychology.
“Restricting people is essentially punishing them. All psychology lab
studies show that positive reinforcement works better and for longer
than punishment.”
Prof Metzer says that water restrictions for outside gardens are not
likely to encourage people to apply similar water-saving principles to
other household activities.
“Public shame can be a powerful aversive stimulus, which most people
avoid. This is why garden-watering restrictions are largely adhered to.
However, when people are behind closed doors, most will justify their
own violations.”
Many city dwellers do not fully understand or empathise with the
drought, as is demonstrated by rising consumption of water in South
Australia, despite government warnings to curb usage. Prof Metzer says
that imposing punishment (in the form of restrictions) will not
necessarily inject a sense of altruism or civic responsibility into the
public.
Instead, positive reinforcement is the key to curbing water use.
“By monitoring residents’ water usage accounts, conservative water users
could be rewarded with monetary savings. This would be a more effective
water billing system than the current property valuation scheme.”
He also says there should be tangible rewards for residents/corporations
who adopt water saving equipment and practices.
Prof Metzer says changing habits requires great effort, as attested by
behavioural addictions such as bad diets and playing computer games.
“Personal habits, whether they are associated with running water or
otherwise, are under the influence of powerful reinforcers, otherwise
they would not be strong habits.
“People whose habits include long showers and running the tap
continuously while brushing their teeth, have not usually had to worry
about monitoring their water supply. Instead they are likely to believe,
or act like they believe, that they have access to a limitless supply of
water.”
Prof Metzer says that the public needs to understand the reality that
Australia is a drought stricken country. This could perhaps be done by
developing a method for people to monitor their own water use in
tangible ways ─ for example understanding how much water they use in a
15 minute shower as a proportion of their allocation.
“People using only their own caught and stored rainwater are usually
aware of how much they have left and organise their water consumption
accordingly ─ monitoring their use is already a habit, and there are bad
consequences for those who do not ─ they run out of water.”
Prof Metzer thinks there should be a requirement for all new buildings
and houses to have water catchments built in and standard recycling
mechanisms of grey water in gardens or parks, so that people can be
responsible for their own water.
Contact for interview
-
Associate Professor Jacques Metzer office (08) 8302 2275 email jack.metzer@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Rebecca Gill office (08) 8302 0096 mobile 0404 85 7977 email rebecca.gill@unisa.edu.au