Effective communication on urban water conservation begins by understanding citizens' prerequisites for behavior change

Sammanfattning: Climate change will likely cause future water crises in many parts of the world, making it crucial for humanity to adapt to a life in which sustainable water use behaviors are key. To achieve this, organizations managing drinking water need increased knowledge on how to communicate conservation messages that will lead to behavior changes. This study used the framework the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) which is grounded on three different prerequisites for change (dimensions) that influence behavior: Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. One high water use neighborhood (230 LPCD) and one low water use neighborhood (145 LPCD) in Malmö, Sweden, were studied and differences in prerequisites within and between groups were assessed. The participants (N = 38; mean age = 47.8 years; SD = 17.4) completed an online questionnaire and the results were used to develop ten ways for the local drinking water producer, Sydvatten, to streamline their water conservation message. No significant differences in dimensions were found between the neighborhoods, contradicting the idea that targeted messages for high- and low use neighborhoods would be suitable. However, the subdimensions Physical Capability and Automatic Motivation were slightly lower in both groups compared to other subdimensions, meaning that Sydvatten could focus on strengthening these to achieve a higher degree of water conservation in urban households. Future research could apply the BCW on other Swedish cities to create a much-needed basis of knowledge with which to determine what interventions to adopt in countries with high average water consumption and good access to freshwater resources.