BANGALORE: The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) conducted a study that concluded that behavioural interventions can influence household water conservation with a long term impact. Water scarcity is virtually a perpetual state for India due to the growing population, rapid concretization and the lack of acceptance by our society as a whole that water is finite and should be used judiciously.
The research was conducted by field experimentation and implementing a habit change in a set area. Kanchan Mukherjee, the lead author of the study, explained the basis of the experiment and how habits are intertwined in human life.
“When people act in a particular way repeatedly, such as taking a shower every day, they do it in an automatic mode without much conscious thought. That is why attempts to persuade people to conserve water by appealing to their better senses have had limited success. People may get influenced by these messages temporarily, but the force of habit eventually takes over and behaviour change is short-lived,” said Mukherjee.
The study established a framework, inducing a habit change by automatic and unconscious behaviour was bought into one’s conscious awareness. These actions, directed by unconscious thought, lack self-awareness and may have an unfavourable impact.
The intervention, which lasted for five weeks, reduced household water consumption by about 25 per cent. “More importantly, the effect lasted for the entire observation period of two years after the intervention was stopped, establishing the potential of using behavioural methods to achieve a significant long-term reduction in water consumption,” read a statement released by IIM-B. The findings of the study can not only be useful for addressing the freshwater scarcity in cities currently but can also be impactful in larger environment and resource sectors.