Motivating metrics for household water-use feedback

• Smart water metering enables detailed feedback but this needs characterisation.
• A framework for detailed household water-use feedback is thus presented.
• A household end-use feedback study is also evaluated via a survey and interviews.
• How water-use metrics are understood, preferred and motivate savings is explored.
• Heterogeneity in preferences suggests a variety of approaches to feedback is taken.

Motivating more sustainable water consumption is important since population growth and climate change are placing increased pressures on water supplies in Australia and elsewhere. Smart water metering creates new possibilities for feedback of detailed water-use information to householders as a signal of potential opportunities to save water, and a number of recent feedback studies have shown water saving results. However, existing literature lacks an overview of the available options for the presentation of detailed household water-use information; and research into what households understand, and value and prefer in terms of feedback. This paper introduces a framework for the possibilities for feedback; and further explores dimensions of the framework via a detailed post-intervention evaluation of a recent smart water metering trial involving detailed end-use feedback to a sample of households in New South Wales, Australia. The householder evaluation survey and interviews investigate engagement with customised water-use metrics presented during the trial, and explore wider preferences for water-use feedback. Understanding how householders relate to different types of information has an important role to play in maximising household engagement and the potential for more detailed water-use feedback to guide household water management. Therefore the framework and evaluative research findings carry implications for future deployments of residential smart water metering involving feedback. Particularly, the high level of interest and engagement of many study householders with the detailed water-use information highlights important potential for feedback, and lends support to the business case for utilities to pursue smart water metering trials and roll-outs. However, with heterogeneity of customer preferences and responses, more carefully considered approaches to water-use feedback are advised (e.g. more judicious feedback design, and potentially the use of tailoring and/or customer segmentation) to facilitate a greater contribution towards more sustainable water consumption.

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