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Evaluating demand management aspects of urban water policy—A field survey in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece
Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400 www.elsevier.com/locate/urbwat
Evaluating demand management aspects of urban water policy—A field survey in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece E.G. Kolokytha, Y.A. Mylopoulos *, A.K. Mentes Division of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece Received 21 August 2001; received in revised form 5 February 2002; accepted 13 March 2002
Abstract The objective of the paper is to investigate the attitudes and preferences of the residential water users of the city of Thessaloniki, in order to evaluate the demand management aspects of the urban water policy. A field survey has been conducted in the city of Thessaloniki and investigated among others the reliability of the utilityÕs services and infrastructure, the acceptability of various water demand options, the willingness to pay of the consumers and the level of public awareness. Straightforward comparisons with the results of a similar survey five years ago help extract useful remarks and conclusions concerning the shift of the urban water policy towards integrated and therefore more sustainable directions. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: City of Thessaloniki; Demand management; Field survey; Integrated water policy; Public preferences; Residential water use; Urban water supply
1. Introduction Water planners, managers as well as different users have to deal with many challenges as we have passed the threshold of the 21st century. Today, rapid population growth, depletion and contamination of groundwater, scarcity of untapped water sources, competitive use of water and the increase of the frequency of droughts is bringing about the intensive need to develop alternative schemes to manage water resources in an integrated manner. The traditional response to water demand has been the development of additional water supply. The engineering-oriented solutions given so far to increase supply, led to irreversible environmental deadlocks responsible for the current situation. Little attention has been given to the objective of water conservation through the options that control and modify water demand. Economic incentives, water pricing policies, public participation and awareness, as well as education and information strategies are today powerful demand management tools, making this option the more environmentally friendly
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +30-31-99-5695. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.A. Mylopoulos).
and at the same time economically effective alternative solution to balance supply and demand (Baumann, Boland, & Hanemann, 1998; Westerhoff & Lane, 1996; Winpenny, 1994; Maddaus, Gleason, & Darmody, 1996; Mylopoulos & Kolokytha, 1996; Mylopoulos & Mentes, 2000). The reorientation of urban water policy towards more sustainable directions is closely connected with the use of demand management practices. This shift requires integration of engineering, environmental, as well as social and economic aspects of water supply planning and management. The end users and the receivers of a new integrated demand-oriented water policy are the water consumers. This means that urban water utilities in order to proceed to integrated policies have to investigate and take into account the social aspects, which decisively affect and formulate demand management options. The water users, as well as the general public who may affect and be affected by water management decisions, should be a part of the decision-making process. Public preferences and trends should be included and taken into account in analyzing alternatives and their economic effects. Decisions have to be based on public choices in order to minimize resentment (Baron, 1998; Bishop, 1998). The public must have a voice in decisions
1462-0758/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 4 6 2 - 0 7 5 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 4 - 9
392
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
Map 1: The study area.
of significant impact, such as water conservation. The better the suppliers understand their consumers the more effectively they will be able to communicate with them (Baumann et al., 1998; Haimes & Baumann, 1988; Piper, 1998). In our days that the shift towards integrated water management has become evident, social and economic aspects of demand management need to be further explored and analyzed. In this context, and taking into account the fact that social acceptability is a decisive factor for the success of any new water supply plans and policies (Kolokytha & Mylopoulos, 1998, 2000), the Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki in cooperation with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have decided to conduct a field survey to a sample of 2170 customers in the greater metropolitan area of the city of Thessaloniki. The objective of the survey was to investigate the preferences, attitudes and trends of the citizens with reference to the demand management aspects of the current as well as of alternative water policies. The results of a previous similar survey (1995) permit straightforward comparisons that lead to useful remarks and conclusions concerning the evolution of the social parameters of the urban water policy. Incorporating the social factor into urban water supply management and planning is among the utilityÕs first priorities in the effort to apply an integrated and therefore more sustainable urban water policy.
2. Description of the survey 2.1. Urban water supply in the city of Thessaloniki The Urban Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki now serves more than 1,000,000 citizens in the great Metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece. Daily water
consumption reaches up to 250,000–280,000 m3 of water coming from groundwater resources. Due to the Urban Water AgencyÕs supply expansion plans, water needs are expected to increase rapidly in the next few years. In order to help reduce the risk of a future water shortage a new water supply project is being developed, according to which 600,000 m3 of water will be transferred daily from the nearby Aliakmon river (Map 1). Water scarcity in the region as well as the increased cost of new water supply engineering projects determine the intensive need of the Urban Water Agency to avoid failure of its new supply plans.
2.2. The survey A field survey was conducted in March 2000 in the area being covered by the services of the Urban Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki. The greater Metropolitan area of Thessaloniki was divided into 17 districts covering 1,051,365 citizens corresponding to 400,000 households. The sample size was 2171 households. Probability sampling was the method applied. It refers to any sampling procedure that relies on random selection according to which there is a known and equal probability for every unit to be chosen as a unit of the sample (Baumann et al., 1998). Personal interviews were taken from the respondents. Data analysis was made with the method of ‘‘the construction of double entrance matrices of absolute and relative frequencies’’. From the double entrance matrices the qualitative relationships among all the variables under examination were derived. This survey was the follow-up work of a similar survey conducted by the same organisations and research groups, five years ago in 1995, (Mylopoulos & Kolokytha, 1997). This previous survey had been con-
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
393
ducted to 2100 citizens in the city of Thessaloniki with the same methodology and almost same questionnaire and is used now as a comparison basis, showing what has changed these five years.
distribution confirms the representativeness of the random sample.
2.3. The questionnaire
3.2.1. Water pressure and operational problems The fact that more than one out of three citizens use a water deposit device in their residence, (Fig. 1), indicates that the water supply network has in some extent operational problems that need to be examined and repaired. The reduced use of water pressure devices however, indicates no major water pressure problems. It is worth mentioned that the use of both devices has been substantially reduced since 1995.
The questionnaire covered questions that concern: • Demographics of the sample (sex, age, education, family size, income etc.) • Water supply issues, (reliability of the water supply network and infrastructure) • Water quality issues (satisfaction with and reliability of tap water quality, use of additional cleaning devices, use of bottled water etc.) • Water demand issues (water consumption levels, classification of residential water uses, use of additional water deposit or pressure devices, acceptability of alternative water demand management practices) • Pricing policy issues (acceptability level of the pricing policy, willingness to pay, efficiency of economic instruments) • Project funding issues • Public awareness
3.2. Reliability of the water supply network
3.2.2. Frequency of water breakdown According to the survey, (Fig. 2), a substantial part of the respondents, almost one out of three, claim frequent water break down. It is important to note that this frequency has doubled since 1995. This drawback needs
3. Results 3.1. Demographics of the sample As shown in Table 1, more respondents were women, as a result of the fact that more women donÕt work and therefore stay at home during working hours. Concerning the educational level, age, family size and number of people having income per residence, their
Fig. 1. Use of water deposit and water pressure vessel devices.
Table 1 Demographics of the sample (%)
Sex
Women Men Elementary level High school level University level 18–25 years old 26–44 years old 45–60 years old >60 years old Single family 2–4 persons/residence >5 persons/residence 1–2 persons/residence 3 persons/residence >4 persons/residence No income (students)
66.24 33.76
Education
Age
Family size
Income/residence
28.28 36.66 35.06 18.79 30.35 29.57 21.29 10.45 79.32 10.23 81.48 7.60 2.35 8.57
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Fig. 4. Public trust to tap water. Fig. 2. Frequency of water break down.
to be seriously taken into consideration as it reduces the reliability of the supply network. 3.3. Reliability level of tap water quality Water quality problems mostly connected with longterm health risks are considered to be of first priority for the citizens. In this context, the reliability level of tap water appears to be very low, (Fig. 3). The situation seems to be worse today than five years ago, when the corresponding reliability level was 20% higher. The justification for this fact must lie rather in the old and poorly maintained water supply infrastructure, which creates problems in the taste, purity and odour of tap water, than in actual water quality degrade incidents. This explanation is documented by the systematic water quality laboratory tests, which find no chemical or biological violation of the relevant standards for drinking water. Although most respondents find tap water quality not satisfactory, a substantial part of the respondents, around seven out of 10, (Fig. 4), trust and drink permanently tap water, with or without the use of additional water cleaning devices that improve taste and odour of water. However, a significant 13% of the re-
Fig. 3. Level of public satisfaction with regard to tap water quality.
spondents claim that use only bottled water for drinking purposes, although its price is 1000 times higher than the price of the tap water. This is a proof that the bottled water industry has done an excellent job in promoting its product as a safe alternative to tap water, even though it is well known that bottled water has been subject to much less stringent health regulations. 3.4. Water demand issues 3.4.1. Classification of water uses The water consuming uses of terrace washing and gardening, are the first two more frequent outdoor water uses, with car washing coming third (Fig. 5). The percentage exceeds 100 because it was given the opportunity to select multiple choices. 3.4.2. Water consumption attitude As it was expected most people characterize themselves as normal water consumers, (Fig. 6). However there is a significant percentage of 12% that admit they are what is called ‘‘prodigal water consumers’’. ItÕs indicative that the number of the so called prodigal consumers has increased 20% since the previous survey, in 1995.
Fig. 5. Classification of residential outdoor water uses.
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395
Fig. 6. Self-classification of the respondents according to their attitude with reference to water consumption. Fig. 8. Willingness to reduce consumption with no impact in quality of life.
It is worth mentioned however that almost half of the respondents do not have the right sense concerning the water they consume, as they under or overestimate their water consumption. This is confirmed by the comparison of the actual water consumption rates of the respondents, as given by the real data of the water utility, with their responses to the survey (Fig. 7). For the purposes of this comparison, the residents that consume 31–45 m3 in four months are assumed to be normal water consumers. Thrifty consumers are assumed to use up to 30 m3 in the same period, while the prodigal consumers are assumed to spend more than 46 m3 of water in four months. What was proved through by the survey and the comparison between what people think and what they actually do with reference to water consumption is that 31.4% of them overestimate their consumption, as they think they consume more than they actually do. On the contrary, 14.5% of respondents were proved to underestimate their consumption attitude, believing they consume less than they actually do. The fact however that more people overestimate their consumption should be positively taken into account in
Fig. 7. Over and under estimation of water consumption as derived by the comparison with real data of the water utility.
the design of a demand-oriented policy, as it implies that more citizens are concerned about wasting water. 3.4.3. Willingness to reduce consumption Most consumers, as shown in Fig. 8, claim they cannot reduce their consumption rates without impact on their quality of life. This means that they are not ready to save water either because they think they are thrifty or normal consumers, or because they have related their consumption attitude with their quality of life. On the contrary, almost one out of three respondents claim they are ready to reduce consumption without any change in their quality of life. Half of those who characterize themselves as ‘‘prodigal’’ water users however can consume less water without this affecting their lifestyle. In this category of consumers, water conservation methods could be applied with great success.
Fig. 9. Acceptability of demand versus supply management options.
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solution to water shortages will come mostly from the construction of new engineering projects. Only one out of four people believe today that water conservation through the use of economic tools and information policies may be the solution to future water shortages. Demand management practices gain low social acceptability and this hasnÕt changed at all between 1995 and 2000. Both in 1995 and in 2000 water consumers seem not to trust demand management options. 3.5. Water pricing policy Fig. 10. Valuation of water price.
3.4.4. Acceptability of demand versus supply management options Poor popularity and low acceptability level of the demand management options in urban water policy is the result of this part of the survey. As shown in Fig. 9, three out of four consumers are reluctant to adapt demand management practices as they believe that the
3.5.1. Valuation of water price The majority of the respondents, (Fig. 10), believe that water price is acceptable. What is interesting to note is that people who believe water is cheap enough have almost doubled the last five years, while those believing it is expensive have been remarkably reduced. This can be explained by the fact that the pricing policy during the last five years has remained unchanged, which means that the price of water has actually decreased in real terms.
Fig. 11. (a) Water price as an incentive for water conservation. (b) Water price effect on water conservation to various water consumers.
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
3.5.2. Water pricing policy as an incentive for water conservation It is interesting to note that almost one out of three respondents, (Fig. 11a), consider water pricing to be an effective tool for water conservation. However there is ground for public awareness and information policies, as more than half of the respondents donÕt believe in the
397
effectiveness of the measure of water pricing indicating either that residential water use is not dependent on price, or that water price and its rate structure today is too far from acting as an incentive for water saving and conservation. As shown in Fig. 11b, more prodigal consumers comparing to normal and thrifty ones are ready to
Fig. 12. (a) Price effect on water consumption. (b) Price effect on water consumption, according to respondentsÕ self-classification. (c) Price effect on water consumption, according to water price valuation.
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respond to a price increase and reduce water consumption. Among them the water utility can find the perfect target group of its potential campaign for water conservation. It is obvious that the current price of water in the city of Thessaloniki cannot promote its conservation since only one out of five respondents modify their consumption taking into account its price, (Fig. 12a). The situation seems to be worse today comparing to that in 1995, as then one out of three respondents were affected by the price of water modifying their consumption. The majority of the ‘‘normal’’ water consumers, claim that their water consumption habits are not affected by the price of water at all. It is quite interesting though to analyze the two extremes in Fig. 12b. Among those characterizing themselves as prodigal consumers, only one out of seven is actually affected by the water price. In contrast to them, almost the double percentage among those having characterized themselves as thrifty consumers, admit they actually take into account the price of water. As expected, those who are ready to modify their water consumption in relation to the price are the consumers who believe that the price of water is high, (Fig. 12c). What is important though is that only one out of three respondents who claim that water is expensive are affected by its price and modify their water consumption.
Fig. 14. Funding of engineering projects.
liability of its infrastructure and services. These results have remained unchanged since 1995, although more people today believe that the price of water is low enough. 3.7. Project funding issues More than half the respondents believe today that the cost for water supply engineering projects that are addressed to solve local water problems should be delivered on a local and not on a national level, (Fig. 14). This was the mainstream idea five years ago, when only one out of four people were believing that project funding should be delivered on a local level.
3.6. Willingness to pay More than half of the respondents are willing to pay extra for the improvement of the water services, with the more popular raise in water price for the majority of them being 10–20%, (Fig. 13). However the significant 44.08% of respondents not willing to pay anything extra should be seriously taken into consideration by the water utility and should be connected with the low re-
Fig. 13. Willingness to pay (WTP) for water services improvement.
3.8. Public awareness 3.8.1. Sensitivity to the existence of water related problems The majority of people, four out of five, are aware concerning the existence of some kind of water related problems today, while only 1 out of five is in an optimistic mood believing that no problems exist at all, (Fig. 15). The situation has significantly improved compared to 1995, when less than half the respondents were aware and concerned about water related problems. The percentage of those who are in an ‘‘insensitive’’ optimistic mood however increases to 30% among those who are ready to consume less without any change in their quality of life. Although this sounds strange, as this group of people should react in a more sensitive way to water related problems, it has its explanation: these must be among the prodigal consumers, who consume more as they are not aware of the existence of water related problems, and for that reason it is easier for them to modify their attitude without any change in their quality of life. The current water problems are specified both as water availability and water quality ones. Water quality problems are more emphasized by the consumers com-
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
•
Fig. 15. Current water problems.
•
•
• Fig. 16. Need and kind of information policy.
paring to the water resources availability ones, while the combination of both is the most popular option. 3.8.2. Need for information policies Public information levels are extremely low since the majority of the respondents ask for better information concerning water issues, (Fig. 16). The respondents are willing to get informed mostly from special editions issued by the water agency or local media (radio, TV, newspapers). The percentage exceeds 100 because the respondents had the opportunity to answer to multiple choices.
4. Conclusions and suggestions • Low reliability level of the water supply infrastructure, mostly connected with frequent water breakdowns and the use of additional water deposit devices to manage serious operational problems in the water
•
•
399
supply network. The renewal of the old and low maintained infrastructure, as well as the restoration of the reliability of the water supply network should be among the first priorities of the water utility since its objective is to upgrade its services to the consumers. Low trust of tap water quality mainly due to odour and taste problems. The use of additional cleaning water devices, as well as the use of bottled water, are the respondentsÕ alternatives to water quality problems. Since all quality requirements are fulfilled according to the quality standards, an effective tool to gain peopleÕs trust might be an information strategy through the publication of current water quality analyses from the national laboratory and their comparison with the relevant analyses for the bottled water. Low acceptability of water demand management options. Traditional engineering-oriented policies are still considered to be more effective comparing to the environmentally friendly and in the same time economically efficient demand management ones. The utilityÕs effort should be therefore concentrated on the promotion of the advantages of the demand management options, through educational programs and information campaigns. Bad perception of water consumption levels. The respondentsÕ self-characterization concerning their attitude towards water consumption and water saving doesnÕt depict reality. People can hardly have objective sense of how they act as consumers. This is a limiting factor for the implementation of any demand management policy and needs to be seriously taken into account by the utility. Limited effect of price on residential water demand. A normal increase in water price doesnÕt seem to have positive impact on consumersÕ water consumption. A possible explanation to that may be that considering the rather low current water price, the respondents are not able to imagine such an increase sufficient to force them to reduce consumption. Water pricing and cost recovery are still unexplored options in the effort to control demand and reduce consumption, needing further analysis and study. Low WTP levels for improvements in water services. The preferred maximum 10–20% raise in the water price is mostly connected with the low reliability of the water services. The current water price seems not to reflect the quality of services. It becomes clear that the acceptability and efficiency of any new water pricing policy is closely connected with the improvement of water services. High level of public awareness concerning current and future water related problems. This is an indication of the fact that there is ground for the implementation of a public information strategy promoting the advantages of demand management options in the urban water supply sector. The relative underestimation
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of the importance of the water availability problems in comparison to the water quality ones, shows the direction towards which the utility should move its public awareness policy in the future.
References Baron, J. (1998). Public affair and the consumer landscape. Journal of American Water Works Association (JAWWA), 90(1), 44–48. Baumann, D., Boland, J., & Hanemann, M. (1998). Urban Water Demand Management and Planning. USA: McGraw Hill. Bishop, B. (1998). Bubbling to the surface: public water supply issues. Journal of American Water Works Association (JAWWA), 90(1), 49–54. Haimes, Y., & Baumann, D. (1988). The role of social behavioral sciences in water resources planning and management. In Proceedings of an Engineering Foundation Conference, Santa Barbara, CA. New York: ASCE. Kolokytha, E., & Mylopoulos, Y. A. (1998). Economic aspects of water supply policy in Greek cities. In K. Katsifarakis, G. Korfiatis, Y. Mylopoulos, & D. Demetracopoulos (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference: Protection and Restoration of the Environment IV, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (pp. 903– 910). Greece: Halkidiki.
Kolokytha, E., & Mylopoulos, Y. (2000). Proceedings of the International Conference: Protection Restoration of the environment V, Sustainable water resources management in the municipal sector in Greece (pp. 281–288). Greece: Thassos. Maddaus, W., Gleason, G., & Darmody, I. (1996). Integrating conservation into water supply planning. Journal of American Water Works Association (JAWWA), 57–67. Mylopoulos, Y., & Kolokytha, E. (1996). Proceedings of the International Conference: Protection Restoration of the environment III, Economic incentive instruments in sustainable environmental management. The water resources case. Greece: Crete. Mylopoulos, Y. A., & Kolokytha, E. (1997). In Refsgaard & Karalis (Eds.), Operational water management, Social and economic aspects of sustainable water supply policy. The city of Thessaloniki case (pp. 41–45). Rotterdam: Balkema. Mylopoulos, Y., & Mentes, A. (2000). Proceedings of the International Conference: Protection Restoration of the environment V (vol. I,. Perspectives of a demand oriented water policy in the city of Thessaloniki pp. 289–295). Greece: Thassos. Piper, S. (1998). Using contingent valuation and benefit transfer to evaluate water supply improvement benefits. Journal of American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 34(2), 311–319. Westerhoff, G., & Lane, T. (1996). Competitive ways to run water utilities. Journal of American Water Works Association (JAWWA), 96–101. Winpenny, J. (1994). Managing Water as an Economic Resource. New York: Routledge.
Evaluating demand management aspects of urban water policy—A field survey in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece E.G. Kolokytha, Y.A. Mylopoulos *, A.K. Mentes Division of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece Received 21 August 2001; received in revised form 5 February 2002; accepted 13 March 2002
Abstract The objective of the paper is to investigate the attitudes and preferences of the residential water users of the city of Thessaloniki, in order to evaluate the demand management aspects of the urban water policy. A field survey has been conducted in the city of Thessaloniki and investigated among others the reliability of the utilityÕs services and infrastructure, the acceptability of various water demand options, the willingness to pay of the consumers and the level of public awareness. Straightforward comparisons with the results of a similar survey five years ago help extract useful remarks and conclusions concerning the shift of the urban water policy towards integrated and therefore more sustainable directions. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: City of Thessaloniki; Demand management; Field survey; Integrated water policy; Public preferences; Residential water use; Urban water supply
1. Introduction Water planners, managers as well as different users have to deal with many challenges as we have passed the threshold of the 21st century. Today, rapid population growth, depletion and contamination of groundwater, scarcity of untapped water sources, competitive use of water and the increase of the frequency of droughts is bringing about the intensive need to develop alternative schemes to manage water resources in an integrated manner. The traditional response to water demand has been the development of additional water supply. The engineering-oriented solutions given so far to increase supply, led to irreversible environmental deadlocks responsible for the current situation. Little attention has been given to the objective of water conservation through the options that control and modify water demand. Economic incentives, water pricing policies, public participation and awareness, as well as education and information strategies are today powerful demand management tools, making this option the more environmentally friendly
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +30-31-99-5695. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.A. Mylopoulos).
and at the same time economically effective alternative solution to balance supply and demand (Baumann, Boland, & Hanemann, 1998; Westerhoff & Lane, 1996; Winpenny, 1994; Maddaus, Gleason, & Darmody, 1996; Mylopoulos & Kolokytha, 1996; Mylopoulos & Mentes, 2000). The reorientation of urban water policy towards more sustainable directions is closely connected with the use of demand management practices. This shift requires integration of engineering, environmental, as well as social and economic aspects of water supply planning and management. The end users and the receivers of a new integrated demand-oriented water policy are the water consumers. This means that urban water utilities in order to proceed to integrated policies have to investigate and take into account the social aspects, which decisively affect and formulate demand management options. The water users, as well as the general public who may affect and be affected by water management decisions, should be a part of the decision-making process. Public preferences and trends should be included and taken into account in analyzing alternatives and their economic effects. Decisions have to be based on public choices in order to minimize resentment (Baron, 1998; Bishop, 1998). The public must have a voice in decisions
1462-0758/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 4 6 2 - 0 7 5 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 4 - 9
392
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
Map 1: The study area.
of significant impact, such as water conservation. The better the suppliers understand their consumers the more effectively they will be able to communicate with them (Baumann et al., 1998; Haimes & Baumann, 1988; Piper, 1998). In our days that the shift towards integrated water management has become evident, social and economic aspects of demand management need to be further explored and analyzed. In this context, and taking into account the fact that social acceptability is a decisive factor for the success of any new water supply plans and policies (Kolokytha & Mylopoulos, 1998, 2000), the Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki in cooperation with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have decided to conduct a field survey to a sample of 2170 customers in the greater metropolitan area of the city of Thessaloniki. The objective of the survey was to investigate the preferences, attitudes and trends of the citizens with reference to the demand management aspects of the current as well as of alternative water policies. The results of a previous similar survey (1995) permit straightforward comparisons that lead to useful remarks and conclusions concerning the evolution of the social parameters of the urban water policy. Incorporating the social factor into urban water supply management and planning is among the utilityÕs first priorities in the effort to apply an integrated and therefore more sustainable urban water policy.
2. Description of the survey 2.1. Urban water supply in the city of Thessaloniki The Urban Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki now serves more than 1,000,000 citizens in the great Metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece. Daily water
consumption reaches up to 250,000–280,000 m3 of water coming from groundwater resources. Due to the Urban Water AgencyÕs supply expansion plans, water needs are expected to increase rapidly in the next few years. In order to help reduce the risk of a future water shortage a new water supply project is being developed, according to which 600,000 m3 of water will be transferred daily from the nearby Aliakmon river (Map 1). Water scarcity in the region as well as the increased cost of new water supply engineering projects determine the intensive need of the Urban Water Agency to avoid failure of its new supply plans.
2.2. The survey A field survey was conducted in March 2000 in the area being covered by the services of the Urban Water Agency of the city of Thessaloniki. The greater Metropolitan area of Thessaloniki was divided into 17 districts covering 1,051,365 citizens corresponding to 400,000 households. The sample size was 2171 households. Probability sampling was the method applied. It refers to any sampling procedure that relies on random selection according to which there is a known and equal probability for every unit to be chosen as a unit of the sample (Baumann et al., 1998). Personal interviews were taken from the respondents. Data analysis was made with the method of ‘‘the construction of double entrance matrices of absolute and relative frequencies’’. From the double entrance matrices the qualitative relationships among all the variables under examination were derived. This survey was the follow-up work of a similar survey conducted by the same organisations and research groups, five years ago in 1995, (Mylopoulos & Kolokytha, 1997). This previous survey had been con-
E.G. Kolokytha et al. / Urban Water 4 (2002) 391–400
393
ducted to 2100 citizens in the city of Thessaloniki with the same methodology and almost same questionnaire and is used now as a comparison basis, showing what has changed these five years.
distribution confirms the representativeness of the random sample.
2.3. The questionnaire
3.2.1. Water pressure and operational problems The fact that more than one out of three citizens use a water deposit device in their residence, (Fig. 1), indicates that the water supply network has in some extent operational problems that need to be examined and repaired. The reduced use of water pressure devices however, indicates no major water pressure problems. It is worth mentioned that the use of both devices has been substantially reduced since 1995.
The questionnaire covered questions that concern: • Demographics of the sample (sex, age, education, family size, income etc.) • Water supply issues, (reliability of the water supply network and infrastructure) • Water quality issues (satisfaction with and reliability of tap water quality, use of additional cleaning devices, use of bottled water etc.) • Water demand issues (water consumption levels, classification of residential water uses, use of additional water deposit or pressure devices, acceptability of alternative water demand management practices) • Pricing policy issues (acceptability level of the pricing policy, willingness to pay, efficiency of economic instruments) • Project funding issues • Public awareness
3.2. Reliability of the water supply network
3.2.2. Frequency of water breakdown According to the survey, (Fig. 2), a substantial part of the respondents, almost one out of three, claim frequent water break down. It is important to note that this frequency has doubled since 1995. This drawback needs
3. Results 3.1. Demographics of the sample As shown in Table 1, more respondents were women, as a result of the fact that more women donÕt work and therefore stay at home during working hours. Concerning the educational level, age, family size and number of people having income per residence, their
Fig. 1. Use of water deposit and water pressure vessel devices.
Table 1 Demographics of the sample (%)
Sex
Women Men Elementary level High school level University level 18–25 years old 26–44 years old 45–60 years old >60 years old Single family 2–4 persons/residence >5 persons/residence 1–2 persons/residence 3 persons/residence >4 persons/residence No income (students)
66.24 33.76
Education
Age
Family size
Income/residence
28.28 36.66 35.06 18.79 30.35 29.57 21.29 10.45 79.32 10.23 81.48 7.60 2.35 8.57
394
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Fig. 4. Public trust to tap water. Fig. 2. Frequency of water break down.
to be seriously taken into consideration as it reduces the reliability of the supply network. 3.3. Reliability level of tap water quality Water quality problems mostly connected with longterm health risks are considered to be of first priority for the citizens. In this context, the reliability level of tap water appears to be very low, (Fig. 3). The situation seems to be worse today than five years ago, when the corresponding reliability level was 20% higher. The justification for this fact must lie rather in the old and poorly maintained water supply infrastructure, which creates problems in the taste, purity and odour of tap water, than in actual water quality degrade incidents. This explanation is documented by the systematic water quality laboratory tests, which find no chemical or biological violation of the relevant standards for drinking water. Although most respondents find tap water quality not satisfactory, a substantial part of the respondents, around seven out of 10, (Fig. 4), trust and drink permanently tap water, with or without the use of additional water cleaning devices that improve taste and odour of water. However, a significant 13% of the re-
Fig. 3. Level of public satisfaction with regard to tap water quality.
spondents claim that use only bottled water for drinking purposes, although its price is 1000 times higher than the price of the tap water. This is a proof that the bottled water industry has done an excellent job in promoting its product as a safe alternative to tap water, even though it is well known that bottled water has been subject to much less stringent health regulations. 3.4. Water demand issues 3.4.1. Classification of water uses The water consuming uses of terrace washing and gardening, are the first two more frequent outdoor water uses, with car washing coming third (Fig. 5). The percentage exceeds 100 because it was given the opportunity to select multiple choices. 3.4.2. Water consumption attitude As it was expected most people characterize themselves as normal water consumers, (Fig. 6). However there is a significant percentage of 12% that admit they are what is called ‘‘prodigal water consumers’’. ItÕs indicative that the number of the so called prodigal consumers has increased 20% since the previous survey, in 1995.
Fig. 5. Classification of residential outdoor water uses.
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Fig. 6. Self-classification of the respondents according to their attitude with reference to water consumption. Fig. 8. Willingness to reduce consumption with no impact in quality of life.
It is worth mentioned however that almost half of the respondents do not have the right sense concerning the water they consume, as they under or overestimate their water consumption. This is confirmed by the comparison of the actual water consumption rates of the respondents, as given by the real data of the water utility, with their responses to the survey (Fig. 7). For the purposes of this comparison, the residents that consume 31–45 m3 in four months are assumed to be normal water consumers. Thrifty consumers are assumed to use up to 30 m3 in the same period, while the prodigal consumers are assumed to spend more than 46 m3 of water in four months. What was proved through by the survey and the comparison between what people think and what they actually do with reference to water consumption is that 31.4% of them overestimate their consumption, as they think they consume more than they actually do. On the contrary, 14.5% of respondents were proved to underestimate their consumption attitude, believing they consume less than they actually do. The fact however that more people overestimate their consumption should be positively taken into account in
Fig. 7. Over and under estimation of water consumption as derived by the comparison with real data of the water utility.
the design of a demand-oriented policy, as it implies that more citizens are concerned about wasting water. 3.4.3. Willingness to reduce consumption Most consumers, as shown in Fig. 8, claim they cannot reduce their consumption rates without impact on their quality of life. This means that they are not ready to save water either because they think they are thrifty or normal consumers, or because they have related their consumption attitude with their quality of life. On the contrary, almost one out of three respondents claim they are ready to reduce consumption without any change in their quality of life. Half of those who characterize themselves as ‘‘prodigal’’ water users however can consume less water without this affecting their lifestyle. In this category of consumers, water conservation methods could be applied with great success.
Fig. 9. Acceptability of demand versus supply management options.
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solution to water shortages will come mostly from the construction of new engineering projects. Only one out of four people believe today that water conservation through the use of economic tools and information policies may be the solution to future water shortages. Demand management practices gain low social acceptability and this hasnÕt changed at all between 1995 and 2000. Both in 1995 and in 2000 water consumers seem not to trust demand management options. 3.5. Water pricing policy Fig. 10. Valuation of water price.
3.4.4. Acceptability of demand versus supply management options Poor popularity and low acceptability level of the demand management options in urban water policy is the result of this part of the survey. As shown in Fig. 9, three out of four consumers are reluctant to adapt demand management practices as they believe that the
3.5.1. Valuation of water price The majority of the respondents, (Fig. 10), believe that water price is acceptable. What is interesting to note is that people who believe water is cheap enough have almost doubled the last five years, while those believing it is expensive have been remarkably reduced. This can be explained by the fact that the pricing policy during the last five years has remained unchanged, which means that the price of water has actually decreased in real terms.
Fig. 11. (a) Water price as an incentive for water conservation. (b) Water price effect on water conservation to various water consumers.
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3.5.2. Water pricing policy as an incentive for water conservation It is interesting to note that almost one out of three respondents, (Fig. 11a), consider water pricing to be an effective tool for water conservation. However there is ground for public awareness and information policies, as more than half of the respondents donÕt believe in the
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effectiveness of the measure of water pricing indicating either that residential water use is not dependent on price, or that water price and its rate structure today is too far from acting as an incentive for water saving and conservation. As shown in Fig. 11b, more prodigal consumers comparing to normal and thrifty ones are ready to
Fig. 12. (a) Price effect on water consumption. (b) Price effect on water consumption, according to respondentsÕ self-classification. (c) Price effect on water consumption, according to water price valuation.
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respond to a price increase and reduce water consumption. Among them the water utility can find the perfect target group of its potential campaign for water conservation. It is obvious that the current price of water in the city of Thessaloniki cannot promote its conservation since only one out of five respondents modify their consumption taking into account its price, (Fig. 12a). The situation seems to be worse today comparing to that in 1995, as then one out of three respondents were affected by the price of water modifying their consumption. The majority of the ‘‘normal’’ water consumers, claim that their water consumption habits are not affected by the price of water at all. It is quite interesting though to analyze the two extremes in Fig. 12b. Among those characterizing themselves as prodigal consumers, only one out of seven is actually affected by the water price. In contrast to them, almost the double percentage among those having characterized themselves as thrifty consumers, admit they actually take into account the price of water. As expected, those who are ready to modify their water consumption in relation to the price are the consumers who believe that the price of water is high, (Fig. 12c). What is important though is that only one out of three respondents who claim that water is expensive are affected by its price and modify their water consumption.
Fig. 14. Funding of engineering projects.
liability of its infrastructure and services. These results have remained unchanged since 1995, although more people today believe that the price of water is low enough. 3.7. Project funding issues More than half the respondents believe today that the cost for water supply engineering projects that are addressed to solve local water problems should be delivered on a local and not on a national level, (Fig. 14). This was the mainstream idea five years ago, when only one out of four people were believing that project funding should be delivered on a local level.
3.6. Willingness to pay More than half of the respondents are willing to pay extra for the improvement of the water services, with the more popular raise in water price for the majority of them being 10–20%, (Fig. 13). However the significant 44.08% of respondents not willing to pay anything extra should be seriously taken into consideration by the water utility and should be connected with the low re-
Fig. 13. Willingness to pay (WTP) for water services improvement.
3.8. Public awareness 3.8.1. Sensitivity to the existence of water related problems The majority of people, four out of five, are aware concerning the existence of some kind of water related problems today, while only 1 out of five is in an optimistic mood believing that no problems exist at all, (Fig. 15). The situation has significantly improved compared to 1995, when less than half the respondents were aware and concerned about water related problems. The percentage of those who are in an ‘‘insensitive’’ optimistic mood however increases to 30% among those who are ready to consume less without any change in their quality of life. Although this sounds strange, as this group of people should react in a more sensitive way to water related problems, it has its explanation: these must be among the prodigal consumers, who consume more as they are not aware of the existence of water related problems, and for that reason it is easier for them to modify their attitude without any change in their quality of life. The current water problems are specified both as water availability and water quality ones. Water quality problems are more emphasized by the consumers com-
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Fig. 15. Current water problems.
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•
• Fig. 16. Need and kind of information policy.
paring to the water resources availability ones, while the combination of both is the most popular option. 3.8.2. Need for information policies Public information levels are extremely low since the majority of the respondents ask for better information concerning water issues, (Fig. 16). The respondents are willing to get informed mostly from special editions issued by the water agency or local media (radio, TV, newspapers). The percentage exceeds 100 because the respondents had the opportunity to answer to multiple choices.
4. Conclusions and suggestions • Low reliability level of the water supply infrastructure, mostly connected with frequent water breakdowns and the use of additional water deposit devices to manage serious operational problems in the water
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•
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supply network. The renewal of the old and low maintained infrastructure, as well as the restoration of the reliability of the water supply network should be among the first priorities of the water utility since its objective is to upgrade its services to the consumers. Low trust of tap water quality mainly due to odour and taste problems. The use of additional cleaning water devices, as well as the use of bottled water, are the respondentsÕ alternatives to water quality problems. Since all quality requirements are fulfilled according to the quality standards, an effective tool to gain peopleÕs trust might be an information strategy through the publication of current water quality analyses from the national laboratory and their comparison with the relevant analyses for the bottled water. Low acceptability of water demand management options. Traditional engineering-oriented policies are still considered to be more effective comparing to the environmentally friendly and in the same time economically efficient demand management ones. The utilityÕs effort should be therefore concentrated on the promotion of the advantages of the demand management options, through educational programs and information campaigns. Bad perception of water consumption levels. The respondentsÕ self-characterization concerning their attitude towards water consumption and water saving doesnÕt depict reality. People can hardly have objective sense of how they act as consumers. This is a limiting factor for the implementation of any demand management policy and needs to be seriously taken into account by the utility. Limited effect of price on residential water demand. A normal increase in water price doesnÕt seem to have positive impact on consumersÕ water consumption. A possible explanation to that may be that considering the rather low current water price, the respondents are not able to imagine such an increase sufficient to force them to reduce consumption. Water pricing and cost recovery are still unexplored options in the effort to control demand and reduce consumption, needing further analysis and study. Low WTP levels for improvements in water services. The preferred maximum 10–20% raise in the water price is mostly connected with the low reliability of the water services. The current water price seems not to reflect the quality of services. It becomes clear that the acceptability and efficiency of any new water pricing policy is closely connected with the improvement of water services. High level of public awareness concerning current and future water related problems. This is an indication of the fact that there is ground for the implementation of a public information strategy promoting the advantages of demand management options in the urban water supply sector. The relative underestimation
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of the importance of the water availability problems in comparison to the water quality ones, shows the direction towards which the utility should move its public awareness policy in the future.
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