Human Dimensions of High Impact Water Conservation Behavior in Urban Areas: Factors that Explain Residents’ Intent to Reduce Irrigation in the Yard

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Warner ◽  
John M. Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Conservation Behavior

scholarly journals Influences of Building Characteristics and Attitudes on Water Conservation Behavior of Rural Residents

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7620
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Han Zhao ◽  
Yibin Ao ◽  
Linchuan Yang
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Conservation Behavior ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Rural Residents ◽  
Building Characteristics

Urbanization promotes the development of human civilization but brings great challenges, such as air pollution, lack of water resources, and environmental damage, to the natural environment. Water conservation effectively alleviates the lack of water resources. Existing studies mostly focus on water conservation behavior in urban areas and overlook rural areas. This study takes rural residents in Chengdu as the research object and selects four villages to conduct empirical research and fill this research gap. A total of 165 valid questionnaires are collected after face-to-face interviews. First, descriptive analysis is used to analyze the current situation of rural residents’ water conservation behavior. Second, exploratory factor analysis and the binary logistic regression model are used to explore the relationship between building characteristics, water conservation attitudes, and water conservation behavior. The results show that (1) the rural residents’ water conservation attitude plays an important role in water conservation behavior; “environmental values” is the most significant factor, followed by “saving money and joint participation;” (2) rural building characteristics such as layout of the kitchen and shower facilities significantly affect the water conservation behavior of rural residents. Based on the analysis, several suggestions are made for building a new water-saving rural area in Chengdu, such as strengthening the publicity and education of water-saving behavior and subsidizing water-saving facilities. This research provides a theoretical basis for local government departments to formulate relevant policies and serves as a valuable reference for the protection of water resources in other rural areas.

Spatiotemporal Changes of Riverbed and Surrounding Environment in Yongding River (Beijing section) in the Past 40 Years

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 40407-1-40407-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Pang ◽  
He Huang ◽  
Tri Dev Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Cropland Area ◽  
The Past ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Changes ◽  
Yongding River

Abstract Yongding River is one of the five major river systems in Beijing. It is located to the west of Beijing. It has influenced culture along its basin. The river supports both rural and urban areas. Furthermore, it influences economic development, water conservation, and the natural environment. However, during the past few decades, due to the combined effect of increasing population and economic activities, a series of changes have led to problems such as the reduction in water volume and the exposure of the riverbed. In this study, remote sensing images were used to derive land cover maps and compare spatiotemporal changes during the past 40 years. As a result, the following data were found: forest changed least; cropland area increased to a large extent; bareland area was reduced by a maximum of 63%; surface water area in the study area was lower from 1989 to 1999 because of the excessive use of water in human activities, but it increased by 92% from 2010 to 2018 as awareness about protecting the environment arose; there was a small increase in the built-up area, but this was more planned. These results reveal that water conservancy construction, agroforestry activities, and increasing urbanization have a great impact on the surrounding environment of the Yongding River (Beijing section). This study discusses in detail how the current situation can be attributed to of human activities, policies, economic development, and ecological conservation Furthermore, it suggests improvement by strengthening the governance of the riverbed and the riverside. These results and discussion can be a reference and provide decision support for the management of southwest Beijing or similar river basins in peri-urban areas.

The implications of climate change on residential water use: a micro-scale analysis of Portland (OR), USA

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivek Shandas ◽  
Meenakshi Rao ◽  
Moriah McSharry McGrath
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Residential Water Use ◽  
Residential Water

Social and behavioral research is crucial for securing environmental sustainability and improving human living environments. Although the majority of people now live in urban areas, we have limited empirical evidence of the anticipated behavioral response to climate change. Using empirical data on daily household residential water use and temperature, our research examines the implications of future climate conditions on water conservation behavior in 501 households within the Portland (OR) metropolitan region. We ask whether and how much change in ambient temperatures impact residential household water use, while controlling for taxlot characteristics. Based on our results, we develop a spatially explicit description about the changes in future water use for the study region using a downscaled future climate scenario. The results suggest that behavioral responses are mediated by an interaction of household structural attributes, and magnitude and temporal variability of weather parameters. These findings have implications for the way natural resource managers and planning bureaus prepare for and adapt to future consequences of climate change.

scholarly journals Health benefits of decreases in on-road transportation emissions in the United States from 2008 to 2017

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (51) ◽  
pp. e2107402118
Author(s):  
Ernani F. Choma ◽  
John S. Evans ◽  
José A. Gómez-Ibáñez ◽  
Qian Di ◽  
Joel D. Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emission Factors ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Attributable Mortality ◽  
Emission Reductions ◽  
Air Pollution Regulation

Decades of air pollution regulation have yielded enormous benefits in the United States, but vehicle emissions remain a climate and public health issue. Studies have quantified the vehicle-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5)-attributable mortality but lack the combination of proper counterfactual scenarios, latest epidemiological evidence, and detailed spatial resolution; all needed to assess the benefits of recent emission reductions. We use this combination to assess PM2.5-attributable health benefits and also assess the climate benefits of on-road emission reductions between 2008 and 2017. We estimate total benefits of $270 (190 to 480) billion in 2017. Vehicle-related PM2.5-attributable deaths decreased from 27,700 in 2008 to 19,800 in 2017; however, had per-mile emission factors remained at 2008 levels, 48,200 deaths would have occurred in 2017. The 74% increase from 27,700 to 48,200 PM2.5-attributable deaths with the same emission factors is due to lower baseline PM2.5 concentrations (+26%), more vehicle miles and fleet composition changes (+22%), higher baseline mortality (+13%), and interactions among these (+12%). Climate benefits were small (3 to 19% of the total). The percent reductions in emissions and PM2.5-attributable deaths were similar despite an opportunity to achieve disproportionately large health benefits by reducing high-impact emissions of passenger light-duty vehicles in urban areas. Increasingly large vehicles and an aging population, increasing mortality, suggest large health benefits in urban areas require more stringent policies. Local policies can be effective because high-impact primary PM2.5 and NH3 emissions disperse little outside metropolitan areas. Complementary national-level policies for NOx are merited because of its substantial impacts—with little spatial variability—and dispersion across states and metropolitan areas.

scholarly journals Application of green concept on mixed-use building design

2021 ◽  
Vol 878 (1) ◽  
pp. 012008
Author(s):  
M D Lubis ◽  
H T Fachrudin ◽  
F A S Lubis ◽  
P W Dari
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Heat Radiation ◽  
Land Use Efficiency ◽  
Mixed Use ◽  
The Right ◽  
Space Requirements

Abstract Green concepts are important things to apply on buildings. The application of the green concept on mixed-use buildings must consider several criteria, one of which is the comfort aspect. The density of commercial buildings in Medan City causes a reduction in green open space, and even many buildings do not comply with the minimum green open space requirements on their buildings, which can support the development of this city to reduce environmental temperatures. The aim of this study is to analyze the green concept that can be applied to mixed-use buildings in urban areas. A mixed-use building design with the application of green building principles is the right choice to reduce the effects of climate. The green building concept can help reduce excess heat radiation inside and outside the building. The method used is qualitative with data collection techniques through observation. The analysis was carried out descriptively to obtain a mixed-use building model with the green building concept. The results show that land use efficiency, energy conservation, materials and water conservation can be applied to provide comfortable on buildings.

Water Conservation Behavior Measure

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Corral-Verdugo ◽  
Martha Frías-Armenta
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Conservation Behavior

scholarly journals Effect of Urbanization on Ecosystem Service Values in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration of China from 2000 to 2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10233
Author(s):  
Shan Liu ◽  
Mingxia Yang ◽  
Yuling Mou ◽  
Yanrong Meng ◽  
Xiaolu Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Construction Land ◽  
The Sustainable Development

Rapid urbanization has led to the continuous deterioration of the surrounding natural ecosystem. It is important to identify the key urbanization factors that affect ecosystem services and analyze the potential effects of these factors on the ecosystem. We selected the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration to investigate these effects, and designed three indicators to map the urbanization level: Population density, gross domestic product (GDP) density, and the construction land proportion. Four indicators were chosen to quantify ecosystem services: Food production, carbon sequestration and oxygen production, water conservation, and soil conservation. To handle the nonlinear interactions, we used a random forest (RF) method to assess the effect of urbanization on ecosystem services in the BTH area from 2000 to 2014. Our study demonstrated that population density and economic growth were the internal driving forces affecting ecosystem services. We observed changing trends in the effect of urbanization: The effect of population density on ecosystem services increased, the effect of the proportion of construction land was consistent with population density, and the effect of GDP density on ecosystem services decreased. Our results suggest that controlling the population and GDP would significantly influence the sustainable development in large urban areas.

scholarly journals Promoting Water Conservation: Where to from here?

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Moglia ◽  
Stephen Cook ◽  
Sorada Tapsuwan
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Smart Metering ◽  
Conservation Behavior ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Conservation Programs ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
International Water ◽  
Per Capita

This paper reports on a review of international water conservation efforts, but with a particular focus on the Australian context. The aim is to take stock of the current understanding of water conservation, in particular: what influences people’s decision to conserve water, what influences whether people persist with water conservation behavior and what contributes to awareness and familiarity of water conservation behaviors. We also explore how all these factors jointly can achieve water savings over time, and the efficacy of past efforts to save water. Subsequently, this is used to identify where leading practice for managing water conservation is heading, which we argue is the application of recent developments in behavioral science and advances in smart metering to personalize water conservation programs. To support individualized water conservation efforts, we need more longitudinal studies of water conservation behavior, a greater focus on behavioral science, as well as the development of modelling tools that embed insights and lessons of this research into decision support capability. This can help to develop the capacity to better implement water conservation programs that respond to short-term water scarcity crises, such as droughts, while also providing persistent reductions in per-capita water demand that can help meet strategic water planning needs, such as deferring or downsizing capital investment in supply infrastructure to accommodate demands associated with population growth.

A longitudinal study of domestic water conservation behavior

1994 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Moore ◽  
Margot Murphy ◽  
Ray Watson
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Conservation Behavior ◽  
Domestic Water

scholarly journals Impacts of Mesonet Observations on Meteorological Surface Analyses

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Tyndall ◽  
John D. Horel
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Background Field ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Impact Surface ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Surface Observations

Abstract Given the heterogeneous equipment, maintenance and reporting practices, and siting of surface observing stations, subjective decisions that depend on the application tend to be made to use some observations and to avoid others. This research determines objectively high-impact surface observations of 2-m temperature, 2-m dewpoint, and 10-m wind observations using the adjoint of a two-dimensional variational surface analysis over the contiguous United States. The analyses reflect a weighted blend of 1-h numerical forecasts used as background grids and available observations. High-impact observations are defined as arising from poor observation quality, observation representativeness errors, or accurate observed weather conditions not evident in the background field. The impact of nearly 20 000 surface observations is computed over a sample of 100 analysis hours during 25 major weather events. Observation impacts are determined for each station as well as within broad network categories. For individual analysis hours, high-impact observations are located in regions of significant weather—typically, where the background field fails to define the local weather conditions. Low-impact observations tend to be ones where there are many observations reporting similar departures from the background. When averaged over the entire 100 cases, observations with the highest impact are found within all network categories and depend strongly on their location relative to other observing sites and the amount of variability in the weather; for example, temperature observations have reduced impact in urban areas such as Los Angeles, California, where observations are plentiful and temperature departures from the background grids are small.

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