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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Water
Sec. Water and Human Systems
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frwa.2024.1395414

A Call for Water Conservation Research Interventions Informed by Community Engagement and Input: "There was no going back after my trust in it turned"

Provisionally accepted
Colby Silvert Colby Silvert 1,2*Laura Warner Laura Warner 3,4John Diaz John Diaz 3,4Nicholas Taylor Nicholas Taylor 3,5Deni Ruggeri Deni Ruggeri 1,2
  • 1 University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, United States
  • 2 Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States
  • 3 University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
  • 4 Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Texas, United States
  • 5 UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Escalating demands on urban water sources present a formidable challenge to practitioners in environmental and social change to more effectively promote water conservation strategies. This study was based on pilot project learnings and aimed to determine whether a sign displaying weekly local rainfall data and turfgrass water needs could effectively influence a Florida (USA) community's water conservation. Three core data sources/methods were used: pre-and post-surveys, water utility data compared between treatment and control communities, and qualitative post-intervention feedback. The findings illustrate nuanced outcomes including the adoption of the rainfall sign as a central information source and some knowledge increases, contrasted with decreased engagement in the target conservation practice, no significant changes in water usage, and unfavorable perceptions of project approaches. Successes and failures of this pilot can guide professionals leading future residential conservation initiatives, which should better engage the target community and incorporate their ideas and needs into the project design.

    Keywords: Participatory Research, planned community, Project failures, rainfall, Residential landscape, Urban, water conservation

    Received: 03 Mar 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Silvert, Warner, Diaz, Taylor and Ruggeri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Colby Silvert, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.