3.1. Stage 1
The notion of domestic water running out and the sense of water as a precious commodity was the main concern for some of the participants in the rural community. It was observed that most participants in rural households reuse water compared to the participants living in urban areas. A grandmother in the rural community showed her concerns; she said, “
Water is scarce and is very precious to us, and we never know when the taps are going to run again.” One of the mothers also said, “
We have to save as much water as possible whenever the municipality gives us water.” A child from the rural household noted, “
We do not waste water in our house; otherwise we will be in trouble with Mama.” A study in Cape Town, South Africa, shows that the residential water consumption trend found that washing of clothes was perceived to be the highest water use activity compared to other water use activities in informal settlements [
21]. The result of a study in rural southwest Victoria in Australia indicated that water usage coupled with water-saving devices and multiple saving behaviours using (water-saving tanks in their homes) reduced water wastage. This is unlike residents who had a high supply of water and did not have water tanks but still believed that they did not waste water [
22]. With regard to washing clothes, this study explored and found that, in most of the rural households, the water used for washing clothes in their homes is either stored or reused to flush their toilet or pit system. This was because the participants in the rural community did not have easy access to water for domestic use, so they had to reuse water for different purposes. However, all participants in the urban households pour away the water used for washing clothes. One of the participants in the rural community explained that they do not have enough water supply given to them by the municipality, “
so we have to manage the water we have.”
The urban community was more relaxed and less conscious of water wastage, although parents sometimes complained about water wastage because of compounding water tariffs and bills. A household of four living in the urban community was observed, and it was found that the inhabitants showered at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Moreover, while brushing their teeth, the children left the bathroom sink tap running. Washing of clothes was done with ease, with the tap running at all times. According to one of the children, “
There is always water in our house, this is why I leave the tap running while washing my teeth.” Another participant said that the “
tap in the bathroom is broken and the water comes out with much pressure, so I have to lower the tap and let it flow slowly till I finish with my laundry.” The used water was poured into the bathroom sink and not reused. The urban community was observed to be high water users compared to the rural community. Water leakage from broken taps, frequent showering and washing of clothes by family members, despite the rapid increase in water scarcity, were some of the observations. The urban community perceived domestic water as a right and the responsibility of the government to provide. However, the households that saved water in the urban community did that because of accumulating water bills and not because of the looming presence of water scarcity in the country. On the contrary, Gilbertson et al. [
2] explained that households in Australia with a good supply of water could also conserve water by making sure that taps do not drip, having a dual flush toilet, using the washing machine only when it is full and using minimal water for cleaning.
It should be noted that the rural community had major problems with the easy access and regular availability of domestic water supply compared to the urban community. It is clear that the easy access and ready availability of domestic water highly influence both communities on water conservation. The participants living in the rural community had a better water-saving attitude than the participants living in the urban community. This is mostly a result of the high scarcity/inaccessibility of domestic water in the rural community. Meanwhile, the participants living in the urban community expressed their water culture based on the premise of continuous flow and regular availability of water. The government has maintained a high delivery standard for water supply in the urban community. However, key steps to water management and water usage were also limited in the urban community, for example, regulated tap mouth, reuse of greywater after washing, prompt fixing of leaking pipes and fines to households that flout the water restriction rules by the government.
The fear of the community running out or not receiving water was also prominent in the minds of most participants living in the rural community. It was observed that most of the participants living in urban areas have domestic water readily available compared to the participants from rural households. For example, some homes in the rural community receive water only on Friday (for one hour), Saturday (10 a.m.–12 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m.–12 p.m.). This makes the families very conscious about saving enough water in the event when the community taps stop running. Bathing, washing, cooking, among other activities, are carried out with all consciousness because of poor access to water. Furthermore, a household living in the rural community receives water only on Mondays. Sometimes, throughout the whole week, water is not received at all. This has made some wealthy families drill personal boreholes for easy access to water. However, the water from these boreholes is salty and unsuitable for some domestic purposes such as drinking. One of the participants in the rural community explained that as a household chore that is often directed to the females in the family, due to domestic water needs, the females have to walk long distances to get to the community borehole for clean water. They ensure that the water tanks are always filled with water at all times from the community tap. A household of six members (one grandparent, two parents and three grandchildren) living in the rural community was observed and it was discovered that the grandchildren bathed only in the morning with a small amount of water before going to school. Water is so precious to them that any form of wastage by the grandchildren will result in scolding by the parents. Grandma says, “
Water is very scarce in our community, and it takes much effort to get clean water. Sometimes I fear this water will stop running in our community.” Overall, the rural community were seen to be water savers and more conscious about their water use than the participants from the urban community. Similarly to the above result, a study conducted in Nepal, Kathmandu Valley, which suffers from poor water management, showed that the households in the Valley engage in five main types of water-coping behaviours, which are collecting, pumping, treating, storing and purchasing [
23]. These coping strategies include walking far distances for water, construction of private wells and boreholes, rainwater harvesting and purchase of water from vendors and neighbours. The study further showed that these coping behaviours were converted into monetary value and that the poorest households incurred four times less coping cost than the top 20% households with higher earnings [
23].
With minimal availability of water for bathing, washing, rinsing of clothes and cooking, life still goes on for the participants living in the rural community. Unlike the participants observed in the urban community, they have a high number of running taps in almost every room of the house and can afford to shower twice a day, rinse their clothes with two or three full buckets of water, and even have lawns and gardens to water. The urban area participants were observed to have various water source outlets in their homes such as kitchen sink taps, toilet sink taps, showers, water closets and backyard taps. If only the urban community could learn and emulate some water-saving culture from the rural community, water problems would be reduced to a minimum in the country. Some water conservation strategies include installing storage tanks, rainwater harvesting, reduced number of taps, reduced use of water in homes, and reducing the amount of water being poured away. Urban areas across the world with good water supply have shown that household water use will continue to rise as long as global urbanisation continues to increase. Better water supply drives up demand. Moglia et al.’s [
24] review shows to what extent water conservation strategies have influenced water use in urban areas with references from the US, the UK, Australia and Spain. These countries sometimes experience drought/water scarcity but enjoy better water management. The study showed that rainwater harvesting is the most effective among the conservation strategies; however, rainwater harvesting comes with significant investment cost and requires ongoing maintenance and operation by the households. Meanwhile, public awareness and media campaigns were the most consistent and effective water conservation mechanism, especially during water crisis periods such as drought. Moving from fixed pricing to volumetric pricing was also a considerable strategy for impact in terms of water savings. The study also calls for a more effective water pricing whereby households that use larger amounts of water are billed higher. However, this has been criticised as unfair because the amount of water consumed is heavily influenced by the size of the household, and larger households are often associated with lower socioeconomic position. The strategies of Moglia et al. [
24] are similar to the results derived from this study; yet it is argued that water conservation strategies are unique and specific to different locations due to varying unique water challenges.
3.2. Stage 2 Experiment
The experiment looked into certain variables such as family upbringing, advertisements, the immediate environment and inability to understand why there are discrepancies in rural and urban communities towards domestic water usage. The demographic characteristics of the participants were analysed to understand the social characteristics of the participants used in this study.
Table 2 reveals the results obtained from the study.
Table 2 shows that there was no statistically significant difference between the two communities (
p-value at 0.980) for gender. This implies that gender type in both communities (Thohoyandou and Durban) does not influence water wastage as water is essential to all genders. This finding aligns with the result obtained by Graymore and Wallis [
22]. However, more female respondents were observed in both communities because of their availability and readiness to participate in the study. The statistical difference between the two communities for age was not significant (
p-value at 0.513); participants aged 21–30 years old (44.1%) were the most dominant age group in the rural community that participated in this study. However, participants aged 16–20 years old (39.4%) were the most dominant in the urban community. Although most of the participants in the rural community were in the age group of 21–30, the majority of them had attained their highest educational qualification at the secondary level. On the contrary, most of the urban participants attained their highest education qualification at the tertiary level. Consequently, the statistical difference between the two communities for educational attainment was statistically significant (
p < 0.001). Moreover, most of the rural respondents have lived more than 15 years in the community; however, the urban participants have lived more than six years or above in the community. The statistical difference between the communities for how long the respondents have lived in the area was statistically significant (
p < 0.001). This implies that the level of education plays a significant role in the water consumption in their various communities. However, the rural community participants were less educated than those in the urban community but were more prudent with water usage (more water-wise). This could be as a result of irregular supply of water, old water infrastructures, lack of proper maintenance of water facilities, among other factors.
3.7. Advertisement
Advertisement highlights the rate of awareness/education of water scarcity in South Africa. The statistical difference between the communities in advertisement was statistically significant at
p < 0.001. This implies that there is a significant difference in the mean of the participants’ perception towards advertisement and water use among the two communities. As shown in
Table 3, the participants from the urban community were more aware of water scarcity (76.4%) than the participants in the rural community (23.5%). Furthermore, scholars have indicated that the provision of information improves water conservation habits [
28]. However, despite the constant advertisements on television, workshops and billboards by the government and other water stakeholders concerning water wastage and water management, the participants living in the urban community were observed to have a poor attitude towards water wastage compared to the participants living in the rural community.
Moreover, Spearman’s rho correlation (
Table 4) was run to determine the relationship between advertisements and water savers. This was done to understand how perceived water savers are associated with advertisements of water-related issues. The result was statistically significant (
p < 0.001), and there was a low negative correlation between advertisement and water saving (0.306). The more the advertisements on water issues, the more likely it is that water will be saved in communities.
Sarkar et al. [
29] emphasised that the introduction of environmental education would be an effective tool for water resource management. Publications of leaflets, books, posters and workshops in regional language focusing on environmental strategies will be a viable tool for water management. Nieswiadomy [
30] researched price structure, conservation and education to estimate urban residential water demand. It was discovered that public education had a significant impact on reducing water wastage. However, in this study, the participants living in the rural community had a lower level of education but still had a better attitude towards water saving and wastage than those from the urban community. Therefore, this study contradicts Nieswiadomy’s study [
30] by arguing that water wastage and water management cannot be entirely reduced by one’s level of education, but rather by experience, the environment and other major drivers.
Moreover, Spearman’s rho correlation (
Table 5) was tested to determine the relationship between scarcity/inaccessibility of water and water use. The result was statistically significant (
p < 0.0001), and there was a low positive correlation between inaccessibility of water and water use (0.342). The more the participants who have access to water, the more likely it is that less water will be saved in the communities.
A study by Jacobs-Mata [
10] reviewed several studies investigating the interrelationship between individuals’ attitudes towards water use and social-demographic factors such as income, education, political affiliation, family size, type of dwelling, water inaccessibility, advertisement and homeowners. Some of the results showed that income and water conservation have a positive correlation. Another study described the opposite for income alongside an inverse relationship between education levels and water conservation [
24]. Moreover, some other studies reported that, in general, water conservation activities are normally associated with higher-income groups. Furthermore, the review also highlighted that individuals who are more educated, have smaller families, have smaller properties and own their own homes conserve more water than others [
5]. To understand the dynamics of water use and how best water conservation problems can be solved, several factors can be considered such as income, water tariffs, family size, family upbringing, among others. However, this problem in context is site-specific; that is, the water use problem is unique to different locations and at different times. This is because different countries have their unique water problems and coping mechanisms in place to face water scarcity or reduce water use.