Caitlin S. Dyckman, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of City & Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley
, Berkeley, California, USA, Elizabeth Deakin, Professor, Department of City & Regional Planning
Director, University of California Transportation Center
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
Residents' Water Conservation Preference and Behavior - A Role for Planners? (assigned to theme
Freshwater supply is increasingly limited, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. In the United States, land use planning and water supply planning have been traditionally separate disciplines, despite their power to constrain one another. Water invokes traditional planning tensions; namely, technological and engineering versus demand management solutions to scarcity. This paper explores the role for planners in instituting conservation measures through the development approval process, and explicitly assesses citizens’ reactions to water conservation, planners’ roles in water conservation, and the landscape aesthetic that influences water consumption in Northern California. The authors developed and administered a survey instrument to assess residents’ knowledge of water conservation measures in a Northern California city. Through the survey, the authors obtained data on residents’ landscape aesthetic, water consumption behavior, water consuming appliances, household water use, and perspectives on local government’s role in water supply. The survey responses were then combined with the corresponding household water consumption data provided by the city water provider, to expose behavioral contradictions and opportunities for change through water conservation programs. Interviews with planners, the water provider, developers, citizens and homeowner associations, and the regional water wholesaler further augmented the findings from the survey. The survey and interviews suggest that planners have many opportunities to promote more rational water use, as they are uniquely situated to bring an integrated approach to the economic, legal, engineering and landscape design methodologies suggested for managing water. Particularly when expansions of water supply are blocked by high costs of storage development and environmental concerns, and economic solutions are stalled in political controversies, demand management solutions show promise for maintaining growth and economic development through the control of water consumption.
 | Conference organized through conf-vienna
(copyright Gunther Maier) |