Water conservation and management in the tribal areas of Pakistan

Last registered on August 25, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Water conservation and management in the tribal areas of Pakistan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009276
Initial registration date
April 19, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 20, 2022, 4:59 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
August 25, 2022, 1:30 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Furman University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
London School of Economics
PI Affiliation
United Nations Development Programme

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-02-01
End date
2022-10-31
Secondary IDs
C71
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Since 2005, Pakistan has been categorized as a “water-scarce” country. In 2005, the annual water supply per capita was close to 1000 cubic meters, and by 2025 this statistic is expected to decrease to less than 500 cubic meters per capita (World Resources Institute). Eighty percent of the people in the largest 24 cities of Pakistan do not have continues access to clean water and this burden is primarily borne by the lowest income quartile. Main reasons behind this shortage include (i) substandard water infrastructure (ii) increased demand because of population growth and economic development, (iii) intensive agriculture with inefficient production practices, and (iv) climate change (changes to water cycle). Lack of water supply and inferior water quality put additional strain on several governmental proposals and policies. For example, while the recently launched Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program aims at improving sanitation practices, water availability and quality enforces a supplementary constraint in achieving the program’s goals.

Given these concerns, the purpose of this project is to design a series of interventions that could potentially influence individual perceptions regarding climate change and encourage taking collective action towards efficient management and maintenance of water resources at the community level, boosting water conservation efforts by households. The focus of the study will be the tribal areas in north-west Pakistan. These informational interventions aim to inform the general public on the benefits and significance of collective action in water conservation and environmental quality for individual households and communal welfare.

The experiment will be designed to provide awareness on shrinking water supplies and the importance of collective action in building and maintaining water infrastructure, such as constructing local reservoirs and repairing the current supply schemes, with an emphasis on public and private benefits. We plan to capture (1) stated preferences towards local public goods (e.g., building and maintaining reservoirs and water schemes) through demands for governmental action and political participation and (2) revealed preferences pertaining to targeted outcomes.


External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chatterjee, Anomitro, Musharraf Cyan and M. Taha Kasim. 2022. "Water conservation and management in the tribal areas of Pakistan." AEA RCT Registry. August 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9276-1.3
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-25
Intervention End Date
2022-05-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Water usage
Attitudes towards water conservation
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
These outcomes will be measured and constructed using survey data and coordination games.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
1. Participants will be randomly assigned into a treated or control group.

2. Within the treated group, the treated participants will be randomly assigned to Treatment A (religious message) or Treatment B (secular message).

3. Within each treatment, the participants will be randomly assigned to high-frequency (message every week) or low-frequency (message every other week) treatment.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done using Stata's "randtreat" command to ensure covariate balance.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will be at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2200 adult participants.
Sample size: planned number of observations
2200 adult participants.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
366 will receive a Religious message every week
366 will receive a Religious message every other week
366 will receive a Secular message every week
366 will receive a Secular message every other week
736 will be in the Control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials