Presentation on @ESRC funded water practices/demand research to @scotgov @GreenerScotland with @dralibrowne 4th December 2013, Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Leith

1. Patterns of Water: Thinking about diversity,
demand and consumption
Dr Ali Browne – University of Manchester
Dr Ben Anderson – University of Southampton
With:
Dr Will Medd (Lancaster University)
Dr Martin Pullinger (University of Edinburgh)

2. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research program overview
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– water and energy
• Future directions

3. The problem(s) with water
• Over abstraction - WFD
– In South East England at least
• It costs to clean and transport
– Energy (carbon)
• Growing Demand at Household Level
– Population growth, social/technological change
• Future Supply/Demand Balance Problems
– agriculture, domestic, environmental flow

4. Source: Scottish Water
Source: Scottish Water, 2013
Source: DEFRA, 2011

5. What do we know?
•
•
Water demand is rising
Mean daily consumption
– ~= 150 l/person/day
– ~= 130 l/person/day (2030)?
•
More single households
– more total volume (165 pcc)
•
And
– Consumption = ƒ(occupancy)
– But look at the ranges!
•
But that’s about it…
Source: SPRG/ARCC-Water Survey, 2011
www.sprg.ac.uk

6. Well … almost
•
‘Expected’ appliance use
– On average
•
Actual appliance consumption
– Mean l/day
– For a few micro-measured households
•
So…
– Consumption measured as = ƒ(O =
ownership of technology) + ƒ (V = volume)
+ ƒ(F = frequency of use)
•
But difference between what is
expected and what is observed for
different households is striking
Source: Shove & Medd, 2005
Source: Shove & Medd, 2005

7. The trouble with averages
•
5 ‘average’ households
– 5 similarly ‘average’ households – same
occupancy, average consumption/pcc etc.
– but they all do different things with their
appliances!
Source: Shove & Medd, 2005

8. But what do people do?
•
What does this tell us?
•
Not about water as a resource but what services it
provides. Some households value showering
(Derwent) others Bathing (Windermere/Conison),
others Laundry (Basenthwaite)
•
Water use varies so substantially
because of Social Practices (Warde,
2005)
–
–
–
–
–
–
Habituation
Routine
Practical consciousness
Tacit knowledge
Neither fully conscious nor reflective
Constraints & inter-dependences
Source: Shove & Medd, 2005

9. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research programme background
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– And energy
• Future directions

10. Research Summary
• ARCCC-Water (Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing
Climate)
– Large scale representative sample survey of ‘water practices’
– Linkage:
• water consumption from water companies with customer’s permission
– Case studies: Summed usage for (some) water company
monitoring areas
• Sustainable Practices Research Group (SPRG) Patterns of
Water
– Analysis of water consumption
• via Living Costs and Food Survey Data
– 22 Qualitative interviews following up from survey
– Dishing the Dirt Focus Groups
– Festivals, Dirt and Disruption study

11. Survey aims
• Range of practices
– Diversity in range of practices
– Nature and range of habits
• Relationships between practices
– Clustering of practices (patterns within practices)
– Relationships between the different types of practices
• Relationship to water demand
– Trying to link practices to water through metering data
• Methodological Experimentation
– Can theories of practice be captured in ‘survey format’
– Clustering of practices not by demography/values/attitudes

12. Survey design
W A SH IN G
Sum m ar
P atter ns of W ater:
• Water-using 'stuff‘ (household audit) ce P ack
R esour
• Habits and practices of:
–
–
–
–
–
Dr Alison Browne
Sustainable Consumption Institute, the University of Manchester
Gardening and car washing
Dr Martin Pullinger
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University
Cleaning
Personal hygiene & care (showering, bathing, washing)
Dr Ben Anderson
Sustainable Energy Research Group, Southampton University
Laundry
Cooking & washing up
Dr Will Medd
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University
• Plus
–
–
–
–
General socio-demographics
Meter presence
Estimate of most recent bill if metered
Suite of ‘environmental' habits questions
W A SH IN G CL U STE R
A N A L SY IS R E SU L TS
Sim ple D aily Showering
O

13. Results Overview
• Sample outcomes
– N = 1802
• 997 = ‘true’ sample
• 805 ‘case study’ sample
• Linked Data - Limitations
– 769 were metered
– 282 agreed to linkage
• We received data for only 158
• Only 73 of these were metered

14. Results Overview: Bathing
• ½ respondents never
have a bath
• ‘7 showers a week’
• 27.3% still brush
their teeth with the
tap running!
– 16-24 and 75+ more
likely to do this

15. Results Overview: Gardening
• 36% have no outdoor
lawn or garden to
water
• Of those who do
– 26% don’t water
– Waterers: More people
water with watering
can or bucket than any
other method!
• How people describe
their outdoor space
– important in the cluster
analysis

16. Results Overview: Laundry
• 2-3 loads per week
‘norm’
– Irrespective of
household size

17. Results Overview: Laundry
• 2-3 loads per week
‘norm’
– Irrespective of
household size
• Reasons for laundry
varied
• Hand washing
–
–
–
–
Very rare
2/3rds never
15% occasionally
9% 1 per week

18. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research programme background
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– And energy
• Future directions

19. Clusters of Practice(s)
• Question:
– Amongst the diversity, are there some
patterns in the ways that practices are ‘done’
across a population?
How often/Frequency
How varied/complex
Technology
Meanings
Outsourcing/infrastructure
Efficiency

20. W A SH IN G CL U STE R
Example:L TS:
Washing
AN A L SY IS R E SU
W
40%
Sim ple D aily Showering
Out and A bout W ashing
A ttentive Cleaning
L ow F requency Showering L ow F requency B athing H igh F requency B athing
Bubbles
= % of people
participating in
that aspect of
practice
e.g., simple
daily showering
big bubble at 0
on outsourcing
= most don’t
W A SH IN G C
shower outside
A house
theN A L SY IS R
Sim ple D aily Show

21. And more…
• All at:
– www.sprg.ac.uk/projects-fellowships/patter
– Methods
– Further description of each of the
clusters + qual data linkages
– Highlights dynamics
•
Discussion of
– Benefits/limitations
– Future trends
– Interventions for diversity (not the
average)

22. And what do they add?
• An understanding of the
diversity of water use, and
that there is ‘no average’
• The clusters account for ~
20% l/day variation

23. But…
•
Cluster membership – not easy to predict!
•
As we thought, socio-demographics and attitudes are mostly irrelevant to the
way that people perform practices related to water in their homes.
Low
Frequency
Showering
Age
Number of children


Attentious
Cleaning
High
Frequency
Bathing
Low
Frequency
Bathing
Out and
About


Household Composition


Gender
Number of earners
Number of cars


Accommodation
Tenure
Environmental values




24. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research programme background
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– And energy
• Future directions

25. The Importance of Qualitative Data
•
•
•
Eliza is a 45-54 year old housewife who lives in a semi-detached house with
a large garden in northern London with her husband (45-54), which they
own outright and share (occasionally) with their two daughters who are at
university.
In the survey Eliza said that she showered 2 times a week, and flannel
washed 7 times a week. In the survey she reported that the shower is used
to get clean, because it’s quick, after sport, and to cool down, and that she
uses the flannel wash simply to ‘get clean’.
She was identified as belonging to the Low Frequency Showering group in
the cluster analysis reflected in her early comments about bathing…

26. The Importance of Qualitative Data
•
•
•
•
•
•
Eliza: I’d say for me personally, I probably have more baths now because my children
are grown up so I have more leisure time [laughs] and I consider a bath as a leisure
activity whereas having a shower is what you do to get clean. […]
Interviewer: So do you have a shower every day?
Eliza: no, not necessarily. Every couple of days or whatever; it depends what I've
been doing. The thing that changes, ah.... well obviously the heat makes a massive
amount of difference, because you get really sweaty and things. And to be honest
when it is cold you don’t particularly feel like having a shower in this house because it
is quite a cold house. Ummm and also obviously what you have been doing. We do
loads of gardening and you get absolutely filthy when you come out of the garden or if
you've been exercising. Occasionally I will get dragged on a cycle ride or go for a long
walk; or even to be honest if you have been to London on the tube then you feel really
awful when you get home. […]
Interviewer: so did you used to work in London or do you still work in London?
Eliza: I did yes Interviewer: when you had that regular commute in, were your habits
different such as did you shower more?
Eliza: my entire lifestyle was different so yes. I probably washed much more because
when I was working you have to make yourself look presentable for going to work etc.
Now, if I am just spending my day in the garden or going to Sainsburys then I don’t
really care that much so you don’t need to worry about washing your hair!

27. Insights
•
•
•
•
Eliza could reflect qualitatively on how her practices had changed over time
as a function of retirement; changing work and leisure practices; changing
ideas of what it was to be ‘presentable’; changing travel patterns (no longer
catching commuter trains and tubes into London); and having children who
are grown up and rarely home and more time to relax.
These were all issues we failed to capture in the quantitative data due to
restrictions in the length of the survey.
She also revealed in the interview that she actually enjoys a weekly bath
which was not revealed in her quantitative survey responses.
From the integration of the qualitative and quantitative data in this example,
it is possible to speculate on the potential change from Simple Daily
Showering to Low Frequency Showering across a washing practitioners life
course (Shove, et al., 2012).

28. Demographic Change and/or Changes
across Lifecourse

29. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research programme background
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– And energy
• Future directions

30. Insights for ‘efficiency’
• Attitudes not that relevant
• ‘Practices’ help to explain variation
– Across ‘similar’ households
– With similar appliances
– And similar accommodation
• Uses are habitual, routine & not fully
conscious nor reflective
– So difficult to change
• Implications for i) thinking about
interventions and ii) thinking about
future trajectories

31. Energy/Water Nexus
• Hot water!
• You can eco-tech all you like
– But it’s what people do with it that matters
• Smart Demand needs a handle on
– Habits, routines, images, skills, stuff.
– Networks of demand
– Cultural, social, technological change
• And ways of ‘targeting’ interventions
– That don’t rely on
‘demographics’ + ‘values’
e.g., IDEAL project
- Links between ‘meanings’,
Infrastructures/stuff, practice
e.g., Unilever Project (Browne)

32. The Importance of Images, Skills and Stuff
IMAGES/
MEANINGS
How is the activity
represented, valued; what is
seen to be ‘sustainable’
behaviour; desirable
bathroom behaviour; what
cleanliness or comfort is.
SKILLS
STUFF
What types of routines and
practices are promoted? Is
one type of bathing (e.g.,
showers) prioritised over
another (e.g., flannel
washing, less than daily
baths etc)
What is available?
What isn’t available?
How does it
promote/restrict
diversity? What
opportunities are
there to cater for
diversity of practice?
Distributed influences on the
creation of demand =
distributed intervention
i.e., not just utility
companies!
Splash Concept Prototype –
Lenneke Kuijer TU Delft

33. Key insights
• Practical
– Practices help to understand ‘demand’
– We need more ‘linked’ studies
• Actual consumption & reported practices
• Methodological
– Quantitative approaches have a role to
understand patterns across populations
– Qualitative integration enables deeper insight
 Interventions and futures

34. The Menu
• The problem(s) with water
– And with averages
•
•
•
•
Research programme background
Water ‘practice’ clusters
Insights in depth
Insights for ‘efficiency’
– And energy
• Future directions

35. Future directions
• UKWIR, DEFRA, Waterwise, Water Companies
– Significant interest
– Potential new approach to segmentation?
• Key value:
– Beyond the average
– Opens up diversity of points of intervention
– Opens up (ways of tracking) trajectories of demand
• Job to do:
– Replication of survey and linkage to actual
consumption
– Encourage move beyond attitudinal segmentation
towards ‘what people do’ – methodological adoption
– This is seen as risky but worthwhile!

36. Wider ‘practices’ threads
•
Related Projects on Smart Demand & Smart Energy
– DEMAND
www.demand.ac.uk
– IDEAL
www.energyoracle.org
– DANCER
www.dancer-project.co.uk
– Unilever Partnership (water use in D&E markets)
• www.sci.manchester.ac.uk/business
Contact Details
– Alison Browne (@dralibrowne)
–
alison.browne@manchester.ac.uk
Ben Anderson (@dataknut)
b.anderson@soton.ac.uk
– Martin Pullinger
martin.pullinger@ed.ac.uk

37. Outputs
• Pullinger, M., Browne, A.L., Anderson, B., & Medd, W. (2013). Patterns of Water: The water related practices of
households in southern England, and their influence on water consumption and demand management. Lancaster
University, Lancaster. http://www.sprg.ac.uk/projects-fellowships/patterns-of-water/patterns-of-water-final-report
• Browne, A.L., et al (2013). Patterns of Water: Resource Pack. Lancaster University Lancaster.
• Browne, A.L., Pullinger, M., et al (2013). The performance of practice: An alternative approach to attitudinal and
behavioural ‘customer segmentation’ for the UK Water Industry. SPRG Working Paper 5. The University of Manchester,
Manchester.
• Browne, A.L., Anderson, B., and Medd, W (2013). Developing novel approaches to tracking domestic water demand under
uncertainty – A reflection on the “up scaling” of social science approaches in the United Kingdom. Water Resources
Management, 4 (27) 1013-1035, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0117-y
• Dessai, S., Browne, A.L. & Harou, J.J. (2013). Introduction to the Special Issue on “Adaptation and Resilience of Water
Systems to an Uncertain Changing Climate” Water Resources Management, 4 (27).
• Browne, A.L., Medd, W., Pullinger, M., & Anderson, B. (2013). Patterns of Water: laundry, bathroom and gardening
practices of households in the South East of England. In Britain in 2013. ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).
London, UK.
• Browne, A.L., Medd, W., Pullinger, M., & Anderson, B. (2013 in press). Distributed demand and the sociology of water
efficiency. In Adeyeye, Kemi (Ed), Water Efficiency in the Built Environment: A review of practice and theory. University of
Brighton.
• Browne, A.L., Pullinger, M.P., Medd, W. & Anderson, B (2014 pub.). Patterns of Practice: A reflection on the development
of quantitative methodologies reflecting everyday life related to household water consumption in the UK. International
Journal of Social Research Methodology http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2014.854012 (early online)
• Pullinger, M., Browne, A.L., Anderson, B., & Medd, W. (in press 2013). New directions for understanding household water
demand. AQUA – Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology.