Restrictions in Water Use

Specific actions or specific outcomes of actions can be restricted to certain conditions, rationed, or prohibited entirely. For example, during dry summers or droughts, the use of water for non-essential purposes, such as washing cars or for watering flowers is often restricted. Accordingly, restrictions place limits on the scope or freedom of action and prohibitions forbid the use of something, or command against it.

Restrictions and prohibitions are prescribed by mandatory orders. Thus, the rationale of this instrument type is based exclusively on command, control, and sanction. It is assumed that actors behave according to the prescription or norm in order to avoid penalties. Enforcement mechanisms are fundamental to the viability and effectiveness of restriction instruments. Enforcement policies rely on a variety of (conditional or secondary) instruments, ranging from licence withdrawal to criminal prosecution. Enforcement measures often involve an economic component in addition to the pure regulatory aspect (KAUFMANN-HAYOZ et al. 2001).

In most democracies, only the legislative authorities are legitimised to use command and control instruments. Although their implementation may be (partly) delegated to private bodies, the final decision on their application (and eventual enforcement measures) remains with the public authorities.

Restriction instruments can be used to influence the behaviour of any target group: individuals as well as corporate actors or private companies. Basically, these instruments apply in the same way to every actor or group of actors specified in the legal norm (KAUFMANN-HAYOZ et al. 2001).

When looking at the water use problematic, it is important to target the groups which consume most water – or which use water in a particularly wasteful way. Naturally, non-individual users (industry, agriculture) use most waters, and it can therefore help to target those groups first. One example is e.g. flood irrigation, which is highly wasteful process: most of the water evaporates and little reaches the plants. Here, an efficient way to reduce consumption would be through water restrictions and training of farmers to use water more sparingly (e.g., if applicable, drip irrigation) (HOEKSTRA et al. 2006). Also local authorities should improve their image regarding their water management before starting any restriction campaign. For example, municipalities should reduce leaks in water pipes (in most of the world’s cities, between a quarter and half of the water put into distribution networks never reaches homes because it simply leaks away; and vast losses occur through evaporation at reservoirs) (BPR 2008).

The implementation and enforcement of restrictions instruments can be troublesome in many respects. Often, implementation places heavy demands on technical competence as well as on the amount of available human and financial resources to control the compliance with imposed restrictions (KAUFMANN-HAYOZ et al. 2001). Legislation must be clear, both in regard to the way the authorities plan to control the imposed restrictions, and to what will happen to this people which do not show compliance and are caught.

Water use restrictions should those be regarded as a last resort tool that can be applied in critical situations. Longer-lasting reductions in water are achieved by a combination of measures such as awareness raising, education for specific user groups (farmers, industry etc.), economic measures etc. All those measures have their advantages and disadvantages and require different expertise and different time scales for implementation. The combination of appropriate software tools varies depending on the socio-economic, political and environmental context prevailing in a country (GWP 2009). A first step is to let people see an interest from authorities to reduce water use. Then it is important to sensitise and instruct users on how to save water during their daily activities. It is important to choose the right communication channel (radio, television, talks, internet, newspapers…) to reach these users most efficiently. It is helpful to add a section with the most frequently asked questions which can help to personalise into a local problematic perspective, and clarify the need of these restrictions.

In conclusion, water restrictions are mandatory restrictions on the use of water, which are relative to water storage levels, as defined by drought response plans. A classical example in water use restrictions is drought stages planning, which has been done in Australia at different governmental levels for many years. The success of this approach is due to sensitising campaigns, good monitoring and sanctioning systems, as well as the gathered experience throughout the years. When applying water restrictions, their announcements should indicate: commencement and termination dates, a description of water restriction levels and where they apply, definitions for each restriction level, the water savings target and the geographic area in which the restriction conditions apply described so that it can be accurately mapped (COMMONWEALTH of AUSTRALIA 2008). For instance, the different stages of water restrictions which can currently be applied in Western Australia are the following: