This document discusses engaging communities around flood issues. It finds that citizens' water literacy and experience with flooding can influence their actions and acceptance of flood protection strategies. Those with higher water literacy are more likely to adopt water-saving practices and alternative water sources. Focus groups in Brisbane and Bendigo found that flooding is a highly salient issue for those who have directly experienced it. Drawing from protection motivation theory, factors like experience of floods, home ownership, and belief in one's ability to take effective action can motivate flood mitigation behaviors. The document argues for public engagement approaches on flood issues that go beyond just information dissemination to incorporate citizen participation.

1. Engaging communities with flood issues
Associate Professor Kelly Fielding
Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland
25/3/2015

2. Why citizens matter
© CRC for Water Sensitive Cities 2012

3. Water sensitive citizenship
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4. Water sensitive citizenship: What people know
• Water literacy
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‘knowledge & understanding
about water - water sources,
water management & water-
related issues’

5. Australian water literacy
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Representative sample of Australian adults N = 5172

6. High literacy Medium Poor literacy
• Households can reduce
urban water use
• Actions in the home can
affect waterway health
• Household fertilizers
can impair waterway
health
• Planting trees near
waterways improves
waterway health
• Stormwater flows can
damage waterway
health
• A catchment=total land area
draining to a specific waterway
• The amount of water available
for use is finite
• Delivering drinking water to
households isn’t simple
• Urban stormwater is not
treated before entering
waterways
• Domestic wastewater is
treated before entering
waterways
• Separate pipes carry domestic
wastewater & stormwater
• Urban soil erosion
can impair waterway
health
• Large amounts of
sediment can damage
waterways
• Cost of urban water
infrastructure is high
• Household pesticides
can impair waterway
health

7. Who had the highest water literacy?
Urban 13%
Rural &
remote 20%
% of respondents who got 80% & above of the
water literacy questions correct

8. Does water literacy matter?
Uptake of water
saving devices
Use of water
saving strategies
Acceptance of
alternative water
source strategies
Yes! Higher literacy associated with

9. Focus groups
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Brisbane: Actually, the power of water - like
one minute we’re in flooding and looking at
aerial views of the Brisbane River spilling over
and cows floating down and bridges floating
down…And, you know, a few years later we've
got the G20 and we’re bringing everyone in and
the city is beautiful. The power, the change is
from water
Bendigo: I think it has to be a local
message… - you know, you see the
Queensland floods, it’s always, you know,
there’s always Grafton- the- whatever- the
Clarence Street through the Grafton, you
see nearly every year, it floods. There’s no
big river here, so people go, “Oh, it’s not an
issue.” It is.
Flooding a high salient issue – especially if people have experienced it directly

10. What motivates people to protect themselves
from floods?
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Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers, 1983)

11. Predicting flood mitigation actions
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Seeking
information
about flood
self-protection
Experience of
floods
Home
ownership
Threat
appraisal
Reliance of
public flood
protection
Coping
appraisal
+
+
+
-
+
Grothmann & Reusswig (2006). People at risk of flooding: Why some residents take precautionary action while others do not. Natural Hazards, 38, 101-120.

12. Scientific facts
& realities
Public
understandings
& perceptions
of reality
Information deficit model
Engaging people with flood issues
Scientific facts
& realities
Public
understandings
& perceptions
of reality
Public engagement with science model
e.g., fact
sheets,
newsletters,
mass media
campaigns
e.g.,
citizen
science,
citizen
juries,
visitor
centre,
social
media

13. © CRC for Water Sensitive Cities 2012

14. Take home messages
• People matter
• Consider what people know, what they feel, and
what they do – in relation to SUWM
• Perceiving vulnerability to threat & believing that
your actions will be effective can motivate action
• Engage people through information but also
participatory methods
© CRC for Water Sensitive Cities 2012

15. Thank you!
k.fielding@uq.edu.au

16. © CRC for Water Sensitive Cities 2012