University of Surrey launches innovative project to tackle water consumption

'We need to get to grips with and better understand how citizens use water if the country is ever to overcome the expanding water crisis', urge behavioural scientists from the University of Surrey. England is facing an unprecedented water crisis, with a deficit of 4 million litres per day predicted by 2050.

Left to right: Dr Benjamin Gardner and Dr Pablo Pereira-Doel

Surrey's Institute for Sustainability is launching a new project to work with industry, government, and other stakeholders to explore how to better understand domestic water use and develop initiatives to reduce consumption at home without compromising the customer experience.

The project – Leading UK Water Conservation through Innovative Technology and Behaviour Change – is funded through the Economic and Social Research Council's Impact Acceleration Account (IAA), a programme that maximises the impact of Surrey's social science research for the region, the UK and internationally.

The project builds on previous successful research led by Dr Pablo Pereira-Doel, which focused on understanding and mitigating water consumption through in-shower technology.

Our approach leverages technology to inspire behaviour change, helping households save water and money without detrimental impact on water customers' experiences while safeguarding our vital freshwater resources.

We believe that by engaging with stakeholders, we can drive a national agenda for water conservation that benefits everyone. Dr Pablo Pereira Doel, Director of Undergraduate Hospitality Programmes; Human Insight Lab co-director; Sustainability fellow and Water programme co-lead at the Institute for Sustainability; Visiting Fellow, Center for Tourism Research at Wakayama University (Japan)

To mark the launch of the project, Surrey hosted a workshop that brought together key players from the government, the water industry, charities and the technology sector. The workshop was a critical first step in fostering collaboration and generating impactful strategies that address the pressing issue of water scarcity.

Initiatives to reduce household water consumption need to move beyond simply asking customers to use less. We are developing water conservation solutions that help people to save water without affecting their everyday activities.

We're excited to be working with industry to understand how we can best support householders in conserving water. Dr Benjamin Gardner, Reader in Psychology; MSc Behaviour Change Programme Lead

The project has two main objectives:

To collaboratively develop a White Paper outlining priorities among key stakeholders to reduce domestic water consumption.
To create an agile testbed, using the University campus as a 'living lab' for innovative water conservation technologies,

The urgency of this initiative cannot be overstated. With the threat of water shortages looming, the University of Surrey is committed to taking charge of finding sustainable solutions.