The Water Night 2021 YouGov survey indicated that most Australians believe that it is important to monitor water usage but only 1 in 5 reported actually being aware of how they use water. Furthermore, 8 in 10 Australians would be likely to reduce their water consumption if they were made aware of easy steps to do so.
The participation surveys indicated that there is a slight increase in the awareness of water concepts and issues as a result of their participation in the event. The survey included questions such as: is stormwater from roofs and roads treated before entering waterways?, is domestic wastewater and stormwater carried through the same pipes?, do you know where your tap water comes from?
In 2021, there were significantly lower registrations for the event due to the reduced promotion. Without an advertising campaign such as the full channel program Water Corporation delivered last year, generating awareness across the nation with a social campaign alone is difficult. Despite this, our paid social and PR campaigns were significantly more successful than 2020, state registrations were up for everyone bar WA and SA and we had more participants from generations X, Y and Boomers than before.
Findings from the event indicated that by experiencing Water Night Challenge, participants realise how reliant they are on their taps and how subconsciously they reach for them. In turn they find out more about water, and where it comes from, and change their behaviour. This year’s results for water literacy, water knowledge and tap touches prove this.
Overall, the Water Night continues to be a significant annual event that all kinds of Australians can benefit from be that students, households, businesses, water utilities and local government to name a few. The event is easy and its proposition interesting enough to capture the attention across the generations. There continue to be great learnings with regards to its promotion to everyday Australians and the media. COVID continues to present challenges for gaining airtime but it has not affected people’s willingness to participate.
Furthermore, this initiative will continue to make a difference to the way Australians regard their relationship with household water we just hope that in future years we can secure greater support from water suppliers and corporates to help us fund a significantly bigger awareness campaign in traditional broadcast media to partner our successful media and social campaigns to increase annual participation.