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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Spanish CICYT under grant number CSO2009-12772-03-01. Currently, Hug March has a Juan de la Cierva 3-year contract, granted by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. We would like to thank Giorgos Kallis and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions on previous versions of the manuscript. We also would like to thank the editor for all his support during the review process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain

    Hug March

  2. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    Laia Domènech & David Saurí

  3. Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    David Saurí

Authors
  1. Hug March
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  2. Laia Domènech
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  3. David Saurí
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Correspondence to Hug March.

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March, H., Domènech, L. & Saurí, D. Water conservation campaigns and citizen perceptions: the drought of 2007–2008 in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Nat Hazards 65, 1951–1966 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0456-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0456-2

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