Aisha Bello - Dambatta
We launched a cross-sectional survey on public perception of household water and water-related energy use was launched in September as part of a Dŵr Uisce project citizen science project on household water use efficiency in Ireland. The survey was open for 7 weeks in September and October and was open to all households in the Republic of Ireland. We also partnered with Wexford County Council to promote the survey in County Wexford.
The main aim of the citizen science project is to engage with and collaborate with the public to improve our understanding of water-related energy use in Irish homes to help assess the most effective means of improving the resource efficiency and sustainability, reduce emissions and costs, and improve the carbon footprint of households.
A prize draw in line the Dŵr Uisce principle of sustainability and circularity was offered to participants and all completed responses were eligible to enter. We received a total of 265 responses, of which 242 were completed and 23 were non-completed responses. A total of 195 completed responses opted in and were eligible for the prize draw – 152 for the main survey and 42 for the County Wexford respondents.
Refill Ireland water bottles for the lucky winners
Fifteen responses were randomly selected for the main prize and have been notified of outcome by email with details on how to claim. The prizes are 15 stainless steel reusable bottles from Refill Ireland.
A further 5 prizes sponsored by Wexford County Council have been drawn for residents of county Wexford and the winners are also being notified. The prize draw for Wexford County participants was sponsored by Wexford County Council and administered by the Dŵr Uisce project.
We will share more information on the findings on our website, Twitter @Dwr_uisce, and LinkedIn soon and will directly contact all respondents that opted in for updates on the project.
The second part of the citizen science project will be launched early next year, in the format of a longitudinal study on water and water-related energy use in households.
Once again, we thank all participants for the time spent taking the survey. Responses will help us to better understand current perception and actual water use and water use behaviours in Irish homes, what this means in terms of household water-related energy use, and the potential and extent of emissions and cost reductions from household water use efficiency.