Targeting ‘hidden habits’ could unlock water efficiency gains

As part of our Mind the Tap series, Utility Week speaks to Hubbub – a charity specialising in persuading people to adopt more sustainable practices – about communicating the water efficiency message.

How do you convince the public to play their part in solving a problem, if they refuse to believe the problem exists in the first place?

To some extent, this is the challenge facing water companies, highlighted by research which shows 76 per cent of householders are not concerned about the amount of water they use.

The same research, conducted by Census on behalf of environmental change agency Hubbub, showed only 31 per cent believe they could use less water if necessary and 24 per cent of households said they take water for granted.

This apparent lack of urgency, as Affinity Water has also found from its research, is partly because people trust water companies to “fix” the problem before scarcity becomes a daily reality.

Trewin Restorick, chief executive at Hubbub, told Utility Week the public’s fear about plastics is far greater than water, despite concerns relating to changing weather patterns and the environment.

He believes a focus on “hidden habits” may be a way to break through the general apathy – with Hubbub’s research showing people were interested in how their own bathroom habits compared to other people and what the “norms” were for time spent in the shower or brushing teeth.

The company worked with a group of households to explore how to change habits. it found people were willing to change but solutions offered by water companies did not appeal, such as practical but clunky-looking shower timers. But with a more aesthetically pleasing device, people were happier to use it.

Swedish furniture behemoth Ikea conducted customer research into its customers’ behaviour and hosted workshops on sustainable lifestyles and reducing waste in stores. This contributed to an uptick in sales of “green” products from the stores.

The uptake of water saving devices has been slow, with Hubbub’s research into London households showing washing up bowls and water butts were the most common item people had – 39 per cent for both. Even fewer had efficiency shower heads (18 per cent) or bricks in the toilet cistern (14 per cent). Meanwhile devices such as toothy timers (4 per cent) and shower timers (7 per cent) were less commonplace.

Restorick said at the moment there is a “value action gap”.

“People know what they should do to live a more sustainable life, but often tend not to follow it through,” he said.

The challenge, he stressed, is to connect with an audience in the right way and through the right platforms.

“Water is very regional so the message must be regional, but the water company themselves may not be the best platform to share the message,” he said.

Reputationally water companies have been dented and despite the work to right this, the urgency of the water efficiency message means a different mouthpiece could help. Also, Restorick pointed out the audience reached on social media by a water company is far smaller than by a more popular public figure.

Last summer Thames Water worked with 30 social media influencers over a 150-day campaign that reached more than 2.8 million people. The company worked with trusted accounts including fitness, parenting and food bloggers on Instagram to appeal to a broader reach of households.

Thames said the average engagement rate of the campaigns was three per cent (the percentage of an influencer’s followers who liked or shared or commented on a post), but some posts had double figure engagement rates – well above the Instagram average – and a tactic Thames said it would use for future campaigns.

Waterwise, the NGO championing water efficiency, has said its research shows a need for an emotional connection between personal habits and the wider world.

As part of its Water Saving Week it aims to teach people how saving water impacts the climate, rivers and waterways as well as the wildlife that live in them and their finances.