Abstract
Water is one of the most important natural resources in the world which supports human lives and other sectors in the economy. Its availability is scarce since it is finite and has multiple uses such as agricultural, industrial, construction, protection of the environment and household (Theodory & Ndunguru, 2013; Kjellen, 2006). Water is becoming scarce and many parts of the world experience poor quality water and the quantity is not sufficient especially at the domestic level where water usage keeps on increasing over time. According to the World Bank (2017), water scarcity has exerted pressure on many countries today and it affects more than 40% of the global population. It shows that in 2030, the demand for water will be higher compared to supply by 40% due to fast growing population and poor water management.
Water scarcity is more severe in urban areas in developing countries compared to developed countries (Theodory & Ndunguru, 2013). Estimates show that about 27% of the urban population in developing countries do not have access to safe water at home (Theodory & Ndunguru, 2013). Urban areas witnessed a sharp deterioration in access to water from 77.8 percent in 1991/92 to 58.6 percent in 2010 (Morisset & Wane, 2012). This is due to the reasons that majority of the population in developing countries have low income, experience fast growth in urban population, unplanned settlement and poor water management.
Tanzania is among countries experiencing water scarcity for households living in urban areas especially Dar es Salaam (Water Aid, 2008). The city is one of the biggest commercial areas with an increasing population that lacks access to clean water and continues to exert pressure on the water resource use (Mushi, 2013). The estimated population is around 4.3 million which grows at annual rate of 5.6 percent (National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2012). The total water production for the city is around 300,000 cubic meters a day while the demand is around 400,000 cubic meters a day (Smiley, 2016). This indicates that the water supply is not enough for the increasing population (Nobert & Skinner, 2016).
In 2020, Tanzania moved from low to middle income country. This has implication on the usage of resources including water. The ministry of water in Tanzania has estimated that most households will shift from using public tap to private taps which will eventually increase amount of water consumed ten times per capita per day (Ministry of Water [MoW], 2020). It was further estimated that water consumption per person per day for low, medium and high income is 70, 130 and 250 respectively which is huge amount for only one person. Further, Kjellen (2006) showed that households with piped water or households with high income use more liters per capita per day (400) compared to global per capita consumption per day which is around 200 liters. In other words, Kjellen (2006) indicated water consumption ranged from 22 liters per capita per day for those households using communal taps to 400 liters per day per capita for those high consuming households. With increasing population and fast urban growth, it’s important for policy makers to understand how to influence domestic water conservation given the fact that about 89% of water in Dar es Salaam is directed towards domestic use (Kjellen, 2006).
Information and education dissemination on natural resource management has recently become popular compared to traditional ways of management such as the use of economic incentives, command and control regulations (Katz et al., 2016). Economic and regulatory instruments that includes price, tariff and quantity restrictions to mention few, have been criticized on their limitations such as imposing regressive cost burdens, difficult to enforce, create public antagonism, limiting people’s free choice and encouraging free rider. On the other hand, information and education campaign create less public reactance, create a longer and deeper change in behavior and can be deployed quickly and cheaper to implement. For instance, study by Goette et al. (2019) showed high water users respond positively and more than low water users when social comparison information is provided compared to price.
In recent years randomized control trial have been widely used to test different program and interventions to nudge household behavior in the domain of household resources conservations. Among the interventions, included testing whether education campaign or norm-based message influenced household decision in water conservation. Atampugre (2014) mentioned that household decision in water conservation is also influenced by demographic, social and economic factors such as age, income, education etc., hence need to be taken into account.
Therefore, this study proposes to use randomized control trial to examine the influence of information on domestic water consumption in Dar es Salaam.