| Security of domestic water supply is an important sign for the maturity of a region orcountry, it is also an important part of ecological civilization. Along with Chinese safetydrinking water project launched, water supplies in rural are highly improved. However, due tolack of systematic analysis and data support of residents water use behavior, which causesserious shortages in rural domestic water quota formulation, water supply management andprice reform. Water supply instability and shortage are the main factors that affect sustainabledevelopment in rural region.According to the needs of safety rural water management,809households in rural Weiriver basin were selected as examples. Questionnaires combined with water diaries were usedfor data collection. We analyzed effects of water supply patterns and water supply timerestriction on rural domestic water use behaviours; studied rural residents water-savingbehavior, motivations and barriers, and built water-saving behavior model, which based on thetheory of planned behavior (TPB) and combined with the structural equation, try to find outthe internal factors that generate water-saving behavior. We also illustrated the key factors thataffect domestic water consumption; and forecast the future changes of the consumption.Finally, based on the results of the whole study, some suggestions on the current rural waterresources management are proposed. The study provides basis for determating factorsaffecting rural domestic water consumption, identifiing the connotation of domestic waterbehavior and exploring measures for rural drinking water management.(1) Water supply patterns is not only significantly affect domestic water consumption,water use patterns, but also change resident’s water use behaviors. Our studies showed thatdomestic water consumption were significantly affected by water use patterns with71.3litersper capita per day (Lpcd),52.0Lpcd, and46.5Lpcd for villages with continuous piped watersupply, intermittent piped water supply, and public tap access, respectively. The villages withcontinuous water supply and those with the two other supply systems significantly differed interms of water consumption for laundry, showering, personal hygiene, and vegetablegardening. In villages with continuous piped water supply exhibited more frequent waterusage for personal hygiene, water appliances (washing machine and solar water heater), andvegetable gardens than did the villages with either intermittent piped water supply or public tap access. There no significant difference in water consumption patterns, except for wateringvegetable gardens in villages with intermittent water supply and public tap access.(2) Through water supply time restriction can adjust domestic water use structure,however it will increase the risk of resident’s health due to the affected residents waterbehavior.Per capita water consumption declined along with supply time restriction. When thesupply time is beyond6.0h/d, outdoor water consumption was highly affected: from30.1L(24h/d) droped to17.4L (6.0h/d). Indoor water consumption was highly affected: from42.5L (42.4h/d) droped to23.5L (1.5h/d), with water supply time is less than6.0h/d. Whenwater supply time per day droped to1.5hours and1.0-hour per day, the per capita waterconsumption, the current amount of water consumption is (33.6-34.7L/d), which was regardas the minimum water consumption for basic use. Water use behaviours for hygiene purposewas significantly affected by water supply time. frequency of wash a face, hands and feet(times/week): droped from36.3(24h/d) to19.8(1.5h/d) and22.1(1.0h/d); probability ofusing shared water among family members increased from18%(24h/d) to56%(1.5h/d) and59%(1.0h/d).(3) Water use patterns, water conservation practices, motivation and obstacles ofresidents are sigificent difference among different user groups.Through analysis of the different consumption groups（（low:<50Lpcd, medium:50–95Lpcd, and high:>95Lpcd) with continuous mode of water supply showed that waterconsumption for indoor use remained constant compared with that for outdoor use. The waterconsumption in the low group was47.5L/d, of which only17.6L/d (37.8%) was used foroutdoor consumption. For the high water consumption group,63.7L/d (58.1%) of the waterconsumption was allocated for outdoor use. Water consumption for outdoor use, especially forthe high water consumption group is regarded as the primary objective for water conservationin households because it is freely and arbitrarily consumed outdoors. Among of these20practices, residents prefered to implement conservation practices that are convenient and donot require additional expenses, time, equipment and technical expertise. Residents in the lowconsumption group were likely to conserve water because of economic concerns,unwillingness to change their lifestyle were the main barriers; whereas those in the highconsumption group were driven by environmental concerns, the additional time and physicalenergy required were the main barriers for their conserving water.(4) Residents water conservation practices are significant affected by expected results ofsaving practices, perceived behavior control and social norms. Water-saving behavior model,which were built by the planned behavior theory (TPB) combined with the structural equation model. The resident’s water-saving behaviors are mainly affected by expected results ofsaving practices (path coefficient:0.16, p <0.05), perceived behavior control (path coefficient:0.21, p <0.01) and social norms (path coefficient:0.24, p <0.01). Resident’s water-savingconsciousness has no direct impact on the actual water-saving behaviors; it is mainly indirectaffect water-saving behaviors through expected results of saving practices and social norms. Itshowed that resident’s water-saving consciousness is hard to convert into actual water savingbehavior in rural of Wei River basin.(5) Key factors that affected household use behavior are net family size（NHS）, solarwater heater（SWH）, household head age (HHA), vegetable area (VA) and outdoor waterconservation practices (OWCP). Through the analysis of the potential factors influencing ofhousehold consumption behavior, it showed that despite domestic water consumption wassignificant affected by water supply patterns and water supply time, NHS, SWH and HHA arethe main factors to determine the indoor water consumption (Determination coefficient (DC)R2=0.453，p<0.001); VA and OWCP are the main factors determine the outdoor waterconsumption (DC: R2=0.276，p<0.001). Total household water consumption is determined bythe NHS, VA, SWH, OWCP and HHA(DC: R2=0.364， p<0.001). Consciousness ofwater-saving only significent affected outdoor water consumption nor indoors, means thatconsciousness of water-saving is hard converted into actual water saving practices. Measuresshould be taken to strengthen water-saving awareness the villagers, and promote water savingconsciousness transform to the actual water saving behavior.(6) The future per capita water consumption in rural Wei river basin will continue toincrease, the indoor water consumption is the main part for the increase..Through analyzing of change trend of the key factors that affect rural domestic waterconsumption, the per capita water consumption (2015-2024) for continuous mode of watersupply showed a trend of increasing, which will be increased from77.9L/d in2015to82.8L/d in2024. It is much higher than the current water quota (40-70L/d) for rural domestic use.The indoor water consumption per capita will be increased from42.1L/d to46.6L/d. |
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