Laia Domènech

Water conservation campaigns and citizen perceptions: the drought of 2007–2008 in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

Droughts are expected to become more common in Mediterranean urban contexts during the next decades. Water conservation campaigns are a crucial part of drought management actions but doubts remain regarding their effectiveness once the drought period has finished. In this paper and taking the example of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, we present the results of a survey on drought perception and behaviour undertaken for 437 households of this area. Conservation messages were compared with household perception and conservation behaviours. Results indicate that conservation campaigns were successful in raising awareness about the drought, but messages failed to target specific uses (indoor/outdoor). Against a backdrop of decreasing consumption per capita in the compact urban areas, future conservation campaigns must be aware of these factors if the conservation burden is not to fall on those already consuming very little water.

Games for groundwater governance: field experiments in Andhra Pradesh, India

Groundwater is a common-pool resource that is subject to depletion in many places around the world as a result of increased use of irrigation and water-demanding cash crops. Where state capacity to control groundwater use is limited, collective action is important to increase recharge and restrict highly water-consumptive crops. We present results of field experiments in hard rock areas of Andhra Pradesh, India, to examine factors affecting groundwater use. Two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) ran the games in communities where they were working to improve watershed and water management. Results indicate that, when the links between crop choice and groundwater depletion is made explicit, farmers can act cooperatively to address this problem. Longer NGO involvement in the villages was associated with more cooperative outcomes in the games. Individuals with more education and higher perceived community social capital played more cooperatively, but neither gender nor method of payment had a significantly effect on individual behavior. When participants could repeat the game with communication, similar crop choice patterns were observed. The games provided an entry point for discussion on the understanding of communities of the interconnectedness of groundwater use and crop choice.