Drought conditions and everything about why people make the decisions they do when water is scarce.

Student Research Opportunities

1. Mortality reminders and water efficiency compliance (in progress MES; results expected September 2020). Student must be familiar with water efficiency literature and willing/able to conduct door-to-door interviews using two or more comparative communities located at variable distances to urban cemeteries.

2. Space, place and imagery in water decisions (in progress PhD; results expected September 2022).Combining environmental psychology with Terror Management Theory and urban water management issues. The kind of dissertation I would do, if I had the chance to do it all again.

I have a longstanding interest in all aspects—the social and technical—of water efficiency.

My past work has explored how social network structures and relationships influence knowledge flows and innovation by water efficiency practitioners and within communities. My future work will investigate different perceptions of water “softness” as well as articulating the belief systems of water efficiency practitioners and soft path advocates.

1.Building toward water efficiency (completed) The pressure on water and wastewater infrastructure in Canadian municipalities continues to rise with the need for increased capacity and upgrades. Demands to extend and maintain municipal infrastructure means that capital costs threaten to swallow municipal budgets. And the questions about resource availability—who is going to pay, for what and how much—is needed to resolve this pressure.  This could quite quickly become economically and politically overwhelming.

2. Green Plumbers (completed) Professional plumbers play an essential role in the implementation of water efficiency. If North America is to achieve high water efficiency standards and more ambitious plumbing codes, plumbers will need to be actively included in the water efficiency discussion. Repositioning the industry will required a cultural shift because the plumbing community has been mostly ignored in discussions of the larger environmental agenda and priorities.