Exploring the psychosocial and behavioural determinants of household water conservation and intention

Securing urban freshwater supplies is a major challenge for policy makers globally. This study investigated the determinants of household water conservation to identify the relative contribution of psychosocial and behavioural determinants. Using a survey of 1196 households across the UK, we found that attitudes, norms and habits play an important role in determining intention to conserve water, and that habits were the single most important predictor of water conservation intentions and self-reported water bills. Changing ingrained water conservation habits is therefore an important component of managing urban water demand.