Encouraging Water Conservation

ideas42 crafted and tested descriptive social norms, in which an individual's behaviour is compared to that of a larger group. The norms messaging included adding a simple sticker to a household's water bill comparing their water use to that of their neighbours - a happy face if they used less, a sad face if they used more. (ideas42 found that comparing a household's consumption to neighbours' use was more effective than comparing it to the average usage across the entire town.) Colour-coded for quick recognition by utility staff, these stickers could be affixed by hand to customers' bills based on their latest usage rate.

The other intervention took the form of a postcard that would be sent to every household. The card showed average monthly consumption in the community and invited recipients to record their own water use against that benchmark, then set an improvement goal for the month ahead. They were also asked to review a list of a half-dozen conservation measures and check off those that they would try to follow - for instance, using less water in the garden, or turning off the tap while brushing their teeth.

Natural Resource Management

Two-thirds of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025, according to a recent United Nations study. According to ideas42, if current trends continue, Belén will be faced with a chronic scarcity of supply by 2030.

Concerned, Belén's municipal water utility had tried general awareness campaigns, and management had deployed a traditional economic tool to discourage overconsumption, raising rates by 70% - but with little effect. Residents adjusted to the new pricing, perhaps because for most people, the monthly charge was far removed from the daily realities of running baths and watering lawns. When the bill arrived, they paid it and moved on.

Noting that these non-behavioural-based approaches had not been successful, in March 2014, ideas42 consulted with a diverse group of Belén residents through a series of focus groups. These conversations yielded several insights:

• Community members were generally aware of the need for water conservation and agreed it was an important issue. However, few saw it as a responsibility that they needed to take on personally. Many viewed their current level of household water consumption as a "necessary evil" and did not feel it could be reduced.
• Most people didn't know how much water they were consuming. Even those who recalled the total on their last monthly bill didn't link that figure to day-to-day usage.
• Residents had no clear benchmarks for gauging water consumption. Several said they found quantities expressed in cubic meters hard to visualise, and most lacked an intuitive sense of whether a particular amount was small or large.
• While participants could cite regular activities that depended on water – from showering to cleaning dishes to watering lawns – few could identify any specific steps they might take to reduce their household use.
• People were keenly aware of their neighbours' water consumption, such as how frequently they washed their cars or hosed down their patios.

For the July 2014 billing cycle, a total base of more than 5,600 households was randomised into test groups plus a control group. ideas42 then compared water usage over the next two months against average consumption rates for the previous year's rainy season, which in Costa Rica extends from May through November. Among the results: a drop in water consumption ranging from 3.7% to 5.6% in households that received bills with the neighbourhood comparison sticker, and a reduction ranging from 3.4% to 5.6% among recipients of the goal-setting postcard. Click here for an April 2015 randomised evaluation [PDF] with additional findings.