Behavioural nudges: an innovative way for influencing people to save water

Abstract

Many South African municipalities are already reaching the point of water stress and find themselves having to carefully manage the demand on their water resources. This need is likely to become more acute as the economy and population continues to grow, pushing local areas and the country as a whole towards water scarcity. In order to ensure a sustainable and water secure future, behaviour change has become a necessity. But which approach works best? As the residential share of national water usage is projected to reach around 35% by 2025 (Department of Water and Sanitation 2009), it is becoming increasingly important for local government to engage with residential consumers around their water usage. Traditional strategies to promote water (and electricity) conservation have included demand-side management, punitive measures such as tariffs and taxes, water restrictions (and load shedding) and information/ education campaigns. However, the emerging field of behavioural economics shows that much greater, sustained success is achieved through positive behavioural nudges.

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