Public Attitudes towards Digital Water Meters for Households

Steven Hendrik Andreas Koop, Sharon Helena Pascale Clevers, Elisabeth Johanna Maria Blokker and Stijn Brouwer
Additional contact information
Steven Hendrik Andreas Koop: KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
Sharon Helena Pascale Clevers: KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
Elisabeth Johanna Maria Blokker: KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
Stijn Brouwer: KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: In response to droughts, various media campaigns and water-saving instructions are released. However, these often only have temporary water conservation effects. A promising development in this regard is Digital Water Meters (DWM), which can provide near real-time water-use feedback. Despite extensive DWM experience in some water-stressed regions, a profound understanding of the initial attitude towards DWM and message-tailoring opportunities are rarely empirically explored. This study aims to obtain insights into the attitude towards the introduction of DWM and explore opportunities for message tailoring, a topic of extra relevance as we may be on the threshold of a large-scale DWM implementation in many world regions. Messages tailored to (i) normative beliefs and attitudes on drinking water, (ii) water-use activity and (iii) phase of decision-making, seem particularly compatible with DWM. Through a survey (n = 1037) in the Netherlands, we observe that 93% of respondents have no objections if their utility invests in DWM and that 78% would accept a (free) DWM because of improved leakage detection, lower costs and environmental considerations. Finally, instead of sociodemographic factors, we observe that an attitude-based customer segmentation approach is an especially useful predictor of respondent’s motivation to endorse DWM and forms a promising basis for water conservation message-tailoring strategies.

Keywords: water conservation; customer segmentation; pro-environmental behaviour; smart water meters; water-use feedback (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6440/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6440/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6440-:d:569588

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().