Environmental Education Program Evaluation: Water Consumption And Conservation In Perth

The issue of high water consumption and water scarcity in Perth

Discuss about the Environmental Education Program Evaluation.

Environmental sustainability issue is a major issue in the recent years in Australia. However, it is important to create awareness among the individuals regarding the protection of the environment (Adapa et al. 2016). In order to maintain the environmental sustainability, people need to preserve the natural resources. Among the various natural resources, water is crucial. Excessive consumption of the water leads the individuals to face water scarcity. This study deals with the water consumption and its effect on the people living in the context of Perth. To make a balance between the environmental resources it is important to use the natural resources in a proper way.

High water consumption is big environmental sustainability issue in Perth. The climate of this place is dry and the water consumption is very high. This generates water scarcity in this place. The major environmental problem regarding the high water consumption is the storage of water for the future generation (Alcamo et al. 2017). Conservation of water is affected due to the excessive use of water, which results into water scarcity in this particular place. However, it is a great concern that water scarcity may lead a country towards the destruction. To reduce the sustainability issue environmental resources should be protected by the human being.

The domestic process of water use in Australia is a big reason for water consumption. This current topic helps to identify the major factors of the water consumption in Australia. Therefore, the existing social activities behind the water consumption has been determined in this study. On the other hand, the impact of water consumption is addressed in this section. Apart from these possible recommendations to reduce the water loss has been carried out in this project. This topic is helpful to increase the awareness among people of Perth regarding the high water consumption and its effect on near future (Amos et al. 2017). This can be helpful to increase the accountability and responsibility of Australian people by reducing the water loss in their community.

This research study aims to identify and understand the historical and the social processes of the domestic water use in Australian city and the policies regarding the intervention.

• To identify the social processes of water consumption in Australian cities
• To critically evaluate the impact of water consumption in Australia in near future
• To reveal the future policies and interventions regarding water loss
• To provide recommendation to reduce the water loss in Australia

• What are the social processes of huge water consumption in Australian cities?
• What is the effect of water consumption in Australia?
• What are the major policies regarding high water consumption?

The educational goal of this current project refers to the reduction of huge water consumption by estimating the water use in Perth. However, to measure the consumption of the water in Perth it is important to measure the amount of water that is consumed by the residents in this particular place.

Factors behind the high water consumption in Perth

Water is considered as the valuable resource of nature. However, excessive use of the water affects the water conservation process for the future use. Australia relies on water as the input of every industry apart from the drinking and household use (Berger et al. 2014). According to the statistical data, it has been found almost 50% water is consumed for the gardening purpose, which is a big social process of Australia.

Industries of any country consume a huge amount of water for its manufacturing purpose. On the other hand, for commercial use 7%, and for residential use, 10% of water is used. Institutions play a major role in water consumption (Do et al. 2015). However, population number and distribution are the major factors of water consumption. People, those are living in the urban areas have different ways of water consumption. On the other hand, people use different quantities of water living in agricultural and rural areas.

Australia depends on the water for its industrial and agricultural operation. In the previous Australia uses water as the free natural resources. However, excessive use of water results in drought in many areas of Australia in the year 2002 (Abs.Gov.Au. 2017). Therefore, water restriction also occurs in many areas of Australia. Such incidents highlight on the adverse effect of huge water consumption in Australia. It has been recognized widely that too much squeezing of water from the Australian river and groundwater system generate environmental as well as several economic consequences in Australian cities (Haddeland et al. 2014). On the other hand, the plant and animal lives are destroying day by day. Apart from these, the major issue of huge water consumption in Australia is the difficulties in the water conservation for the future generation. However, excessive use of water affects the river health. Therefore, shortage of water takes place, which indicates the water scarcity for the future generation.

To reduce the water scarcity in near future it is important to make a balance between the various demands. Based on the high water consumption, Australian government proposed National Water Initiative or NWI in the year 2004 (Abs.Gov.Au. 2017). This is built on the council of Australian Government framework that is the COAG. The aim of such regulation is to maximize the efficiency of the water use and the river health of Australia. National water commission or NWC and Australian Water Resource 2005 influence the implementation of NWI regulation to protect the groundwater system as well as the river health. Water Act 2007 is considered as the key element to develop Australian government national plan for Water Security. Such regulations are helpful to increase the availability of the quality information regarding water at the national level (Hof, Angela and Nils Wolf 2014).

Industrial, commercial, residential, and institutional water consumption

Research methodology is a crucial part of any project. However, in this current project positivism philosophy, deductive approach and descriptive design method have been selected. In order to achieve the project goal, the researcher has conducted both primary and secondary research methodologies. However, primary and secondary methodologies both are crucial to getting valid data (Mekonnen et al. 2016). The secondary data has been collected to conduct the literature review by reviewing the journals and articles. In order to collect primary data, the researcher has conducted the survey in the seven households in Caversham.  In this survey method, the 7 households are taken as the sample size to collect data.

Survey is an effective method to collect data regarding a topic from the population. However, based on the feedback of the participants the information is gathered (Qureshi et al. 2013). A meeting is conducted with the households about the water consumption in their domestic use. On the other hand, the researcher visited the household and talked them individually to identify the number of people who are washing by running the tap and blocking the sink. On the other hand, it is important to identify the amount of water that is used for the showering and gardening in this particular community. However, such measurement is required to understand the water consumption rate in this particular area.

The researcher has given the water meter reading during the first survey and the survey is conducted for two times. The water meter reading is a process through which the use of water in commercial and residential buildings can be determined (Rathnayaka et al. 2014). In this survey, the use of water meter reading enables the researcher to measure the high consumption of water in Perth. In order to increase the awareness among the public regarding the water shortage, it is important to develop necessary strategies. Effective communication is helpful to collect feedbacks during the survey (Stern et al. 2014). The researcher communicated with the households in order to depict their domestic water use. On the other hand, effective communication enables the researcher to increase awareness among the households regarding the water scarcity by showing them the current rate of the water consumption.

The individual should be proactive while conducting a research or meeting (Van Der Linden 2015). The researcher included good knowledge about the project as well as the effect of high water consumption. The researcher has shown proactive approach during the survey to distribute knowledge among the people of such specific community. A community meeting has been arranged during the survey to increase the knowledge of the 7 households about the water scarcity and the necessity of the water consumption.

Policies and regulations to address water scarcity and conservation

The main goal of the project is to create awareness among the people of Perth regarding the shortage of water in near future. However, it is a major challenge for the society to conserve water by reducing its unnecessary consumption (Stern et al. 2014). During the meeting, the researcher has shown video, distributed the leaflets and pamphlets to generate knowledge regarding the high consumption of water and its effect on coming future. 

Knowledge gathering is essential to complete a research project (Qureshi et al. 2013. In this current project, water conservation is the main aim. Hence, the researcher has contacted to the water corporation and also gathered knowledge by interacting with the people those have retired from the water corporation. After the conduction of the first survey, a second-time survey has been conducted to analyze the collected result.

Households	Types of the water consumption via domestic use	Total Usage
	Gardening	Showering	Washing	Other use
Household 1	20%	5%	10%	7%	42%
Household  2	25%	10%	6%	10%	51%
Household  3	15%	5%	5%	8%	33%
Household  4	30%	4%	10%	5%	49%
Household  5	10%	5%	9%	5%	29%
Household  6	25%	5%	10%	2%	42%
Household  7	20%	5%	10%	7%	42%

Table 1: Water use for domestic purpose

(Source: Author)

The above data focuses on the total water use in domestic households in this research survey. However, it has been found that household 2 has consumed maximum water while household 6 consume less water in domestic purpose. On the other hand, it has been detected that people use much water for gardening purpose according to the result.

Households	Standard Rate of water meter	Rate of the water use	Water use (gallons)
Household 1	1=1356411 gallons	0.30	406,923.3
Household 2	1	0.35	474,743.85
Household 3	1	0.25	339,102.75
Household 4	1	0.28	379,795.08
Household 5	1	0.32	434,051.52
Household 6	1	0.30	406,923.3
Household 7	1	0.30	406,923.3

Table 2: Reading of water meter in context of seven households

(Source: Author)

According to the above data, it has been received that household 2 uses maximum water that is 474,743.85 gallon of water while house 3 uses the minimum water that is 339,102.75 gallon for the domestic purpose. However, 1 is the standard rate of the water meter reading that means 1356411 gallons. If the water consumption rate is more than 1 in water meter than it shows the high water consumption. Based on such survey data it can be said that the households have used a huge amount of water for their domestic activities, which may cause water scarcity in Perth. Huge consumption of the water indicates difficulties in water conservation in future (Haddeland et al. 2014). This current result has increased awareness among the people in Perth. During the second survey, the water consumption rate was lower than the previous survey, which indicates the previous survey has influenced and created awareness among the people regarding the water conservation.

Households	Standard Rate of water meter	Rate of the water use	Water use (gallons)
Household 1	1=1356411 gallons	0.25	339,102.75
Household 2	1	0.30	406,923.3
Household 3	1	0.20	271,282.2
Household 4	1	0.25	339,102.75
Household 5	1	0.32	434,051.52
Household 6	1	0.20	271,282.2
Household 7	1	0.30	406,923.3

Figure 1: Result of second survey

(Source: Researcher)

According to the second survey it has been seen that household 2 has been reduced their water use in compare to their previous water consumption. On the other hand, household 3 also reduces their water consumption. However, the overall consumption of the water in this particular community has been reduced as per the data of second survey.

Research methodology

• By using alternative water sources will be helpful to reduce the water scarcity in near future in Australia.
• Knowledge distribution will be helpful to increase the knowledge among the people about the necessity for the water conservation for near future.
• Conduction of the educational program will be beneficial to generate awareness among the people about the negative impact of the high water consumption among the Australian cities.

Conclusion

The current piece of study focuses on the negative effect of the excessive water consumption in the Australian cities. However, it is a major concern that high consumption of water may create the water deficiency for the future generation. Therefore, a survey has been conducted in Perth to understand the water consumption rate for the domestic purpose. This study shows that gardening is a big factor of water consumption. Hence, this report is helpful to increase the awareness about the water scarcity among the people, which may influence them to conserve water by minimizing its use in their domestic work.

References

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