WaterSmart Behaviour Change Program
Executive Summary - Yarra Valley Water Stage 1 Project

The WaterSmart Behaviour Change Stage 1 project targeted eight suburbs in Melbourne's north and east.  Participating households were guided through a series of workshops and meetings as well as receiving materials tailored to their circumstances.

The recruitment drive extended to more than 5,000 residential households in the north and east.  Of the participating 918 households, 60% were located in the northern regions.

Metropolitan water conservation programs historically have not had a lot of personalised contact between the corporation and the program participants: this program was designed to reverse that trend.  Over the course of the program households were:

• invited to four Open Street Presentations
• received four seasonal water conservation booklets
• received an in home audit to assess their needs
• were offered the chance to participate in four community workshops and
• were contacted by phone up to three times to discuss their water use.

The result of the high level of interaction transalted into high levels of participant satisfaction, with 90% of those surveyed agreeing that the program had a positive impact on the environment and 78% indicated that they would be happy to participate in future programs.

As a result of this program, participating households saved 141,370 litres of water a day or more than 51,000,000 litres annually, which equated to a reduction in usage of 24% when compared to their previous consumption.

WaterSmart Behaviour Change Program
Executive Summary - Yarra Valley Water Stage 2 Project

The WaterSmart voluntary behaviour change program approach was based on the philosophy of 'helping people to help themselves' and encouraged people to think about their own water needs and problems and finding ways to solve them.

Purpose
The purpose of the program was essentially three-fold:

• to bring about change in participants' behaviour and use of water
• to understand the needs of participants as articulated in the conversations
• to learn about benefits of the approach, consider the difficulties, and recommend changes for future programs.

The changes
Those people involved in the program, and had conversations and further interactions over the 12 month period, reported significant changes that they made to the efficiency of their appliances and fixtures as well as to their behaviour.

People changed appliances and fixtures
In Yarra Valley Water's service area, over 8,000 households participated in the WaterSmart Program.  Of these, 77% of participants said the program helped them save water. 

During the program:

• 45% installed a water-saving showerhead
• 64% said they used a shower timer or timer themselves in the shower
• 14% installed water flow restrictors

People reduced water use
Overall, average water consumption has reduced since the beginning of the program. 

Further analysis of water use will be conducted, after summer and when participants have had a chance to implement further changes.

Finally, and most importantly, lessons have been learnt and documented to support further development of water conservation programs for the future.