Title: Socio-environmental factors affecting water demand in discrete aboriginal communities in Australia

Authors: Emma Yuen; Ian James; Ross Taplin; Goen Ho

Addresses: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, Australia ' Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia ' School of Accounting, Curtin Business School, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth 6845, Western Australia, Australia ' School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia

Abstract: Water use is a complex function of socioeconomic conditions and climatic factors. This paper considers the socio-economic and physical factors that need to be considered during the design of water supply systems to ensure appropriate supply systems are developed and local needs are met. Data was obtained for remote Indigenous communities located in the Northern Territory, Australia. Information from a census of community health and infrastructure needs and climatic data were correlated with water demand through multivariate linear regression analysis. This showed that average household size, climate, geographical location, essential service maintenance responsibility and remoteness of the community were correlated with water demand. It was particularly interesting to find that self-determination indicated by local or Indigenous management of water services was correlated with a reduction in water demand.

Keywords: Aborigines; Australia; linear regression; water demand; water supply; socio-environmental factors; Aboriginal communities; indigenous communities; water management; community health; infrastructure needs; climate data; household size; geographical location; essential services; maintenance responsibility; remoteness; self-determination.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2013.054788

International Journal of Water, 2013 Vol.7 No.3, pp.240 - 258

Accepted: 02 Mar 2011
Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article