An analysis of attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of water use within urban households in the city of Durban

Abstract

South Africa is facing increasing water demands to meet the needs of a rapidly growing and urbanising population, including an urgent need for sustained economic growth. At the same time, climate change is driving the country towards a warmer and drier climatic future, with predicted longer droughts and intense floods. Climate change will result in reduced water availability to meet South Africa’s water demands of the future. This study addresses the urban water demand management challenge by focussing on the attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of urban households towards their water consumption, in a search for ways in which domestic demand for water may be substantially reduced. The analysis reflects the attitudes and perceptions of City of Durban urban dwellers in a period when water use restrictions are common across the country. Several national, provincial and local government calls have been made for immediate researched solutions for reducing urban water demand in South Africa (SA). The research study has brought to fore the complexity of competing forces shaping water demand and water use in the context of the socio-demographic composition of households living within different kinds of dwellings, as well as cultural, behavioural and attitudinal aspects of water consumption in City of Durban. In so doing, it aimed to inform public management policy and planning on effective ways to reduce water consumption and identify alternative and complimentary solutions towards effective water demand management. The essential questions the research addressed was to what extent do two key dimensions of urban structure - built form and the socio-behavioural characteristics of household behaviour, influence the pattern of water consumption across the Durban metropolitan area. Additionally, the study also investigated the extent to which people understood water-saving as an environmental concept and the need to conserve the natural resource, including what urban water users believed were the most effective water-saving habits, technology interventions and communication methods with water services authorities.