Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

1

HOW CAN WE MAKE STORMWATER EDUCATION

MORE EFFECTIVE?

Neil Dufty, Principal, Molino Stewart Pty Ltd

1. STORMWATER EDUCATION

Education has been viewed by many organisations as an important non-structural

stormwater management tool with considerable investment made to support it.

Stormwater education activities have included media campaigns, signage, stormwater

drain stenciling and industry training courses. They aim to change the behaviour of

sectors of the community whose activities are thought to impact on stormwater quality

(and quantity) and the health of waterways.

Yet, have these stormwater education programs been effective in changing behaviour

and achieve water quality improvements? According to research, the answer is ‘in some

cases’. There is certainly a formula for effective stormwater education - this will be

developed in this paper.

2. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE AND SUSTAINABILITY

Behaviour is what people do. People may perform a host of environmentally appropriate

and inappropriate behaviours every day.

Governments around the world have made numerous legal agreements that commit their

countries to take responsibility for a suite of actions to change and move society

towards sustainability. Such progress to sustainability depends on the behaviour of

people in all walks of life, requiring changes in their way of thinking, living and

working.

Where possible, it is therefore important to place stormwater management (including

non-structural behavior change activities) in a sustainability context instead of treating it

in isolation. This may mean lobbying planners to include stormwater management in

local, regional, state and national sustainability plans.

The advantage of this approach, apart from working towards more holistic goals, is for

stormwater management to benefit strategically and cumulatively from links with other

specialised activity e.g. biodiversity actions such as Landcare. In other words, ‘there is

strength in working towards the common good’. It also helps ensure longevity of

behaviour change strategies by sharing ownership across the community.

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

2

Molino Stewart (2004) recently developed a strategic sustainability education

framework for the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie region of NSW. Concentrating on

the ’environmental ‘ part of the triple bottom line, it used regionally acknowledged

sustainability outcomes (see Figure 1) as the basis for the development of behaviour

change strategies (including stormwater education).

Clean Air Efficient Resource Conserved Use Biodiversity

Good Quality Water Healthy Aquatic Systems

Conserved Cultural Healthy and Liveable Urban Heritage Productive Land Environments

Figure 1: Recommended environmental sustainability outcomes for the

Central Coast and Lake Macquarie region

To effectively direct strategies, a suite of ‘best management practice’ behaviours was

identified for each environmental outcome. An example of the behaviours related to

stormwater management is shown in Figure 2.

Use water sensitive urban design Mulch gardens

Bin dog droppings

Use fertiliser sparingly

Use pesticides appropriately Shop with reusable bags

Figure 2: Example of stormwater behaviours linked to regional outcomes

HEALTHY &

SUSTAINABLE

ENVIRONMENTS

HEALTHY &

SUSTAINABLE

ENVIRONMENT

GOOD QUALITY

WATER

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

3

3. STORMWATER EDUCATION AND OTHER NON-STRUCTURAL

TOOLS

There are several classifications of non-structural stormwater management tools. In this

paper, four classes of tools are identified:

1. Regulation e.g. environmental licences

2. Planning e.g. town planning instruments, stormwater management plans

3. Incentives e.g. grants, subsidies

4. Education (including communications)

There may be benefit in combining activities from several of these classes of non-

structural tools to change behaviour. According to Young et al. (1996), prospects for

changing behaviour will always be greater ‘if direct regulatory approaches are overlain

with a web of mechanisms that create a financially attractive and voluntary atmosphere

that encourages cooperation and the sharing of information’.

On the other hand, with constraints such as staffing and budget an organisation may

have to be more discerning and choose activities from only one of the classes. Figure 3

provides a model to help this decision using the four classes as tiers in a triangle. The

lower tiers, including education, are seen as best to address diffuse pollution sources

where appropriate community behaviour is critical. The upper tiers are best suited for

point source pollution issues such as improving sewage treatment plants.

Point Source Specific groups

Regulation

Planning

Incentives

Education & Communications

Diffuse Community

Figure 3: Model to help choose non-structural stormwater management

tools to change behaviour

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

4

4. STORMWATER EDUCATION IS MORE THAN AWARENESS

The focus on behaviour change to achieve sustainability has led to a re-think of

approaches to environmental education (including stormwater education). Monroe, Day

and Grieser (2000) argue that ‘knowledge alone doesn’t help or harm the environment.

Human attitudes don’t harm or help the environment. Human behaviours, on the other

hand, have greatly harmed, yet hold a great deal of hope for helping the environment.

Those of us who work for environmental sustainability must address human behaviour’.

Similarly, Neiswinder and Shepard (2002) state that to be successful environmental

education ‘programs must go beyond making people aware of the problem and rather

should focus on changing critical behaviours’.

The NSW government through its NSW Environmental Education Plan 2002-05 has

embraced the move from traditional environmental education to that which targets

behaviour change leading towards sustainability. The Plan notes that ’in NSW the focus

of environmental education programs has shifted in recent years, due to a deeper

understanding of the causes of environmental problems and how to prevent them’. It

concludes that these changes in the direction of environmental education may be

described as moving towards ‘education for sustainability’.

Implications of this shift in environmental education focus are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Differences between ‘tradit ional’ environmental education and

‘education for sustainability’ (EFS)

ASPECT TRADITIONAL

APPROACH

NEW EFS

APPROACH

Problem Pollution/end of the pipe Pollution/source

reduction

Solution Environmental

protection

Sustainability solutions

Connectedness Humans separate from

ecosystems

Humans as part of

ecosystems

Time frame Present/short term Future/long term

Goals Awareness and

knowledge

Changed behaviours,

practices and structures

Education

methods

Predominantly

information-based

Participatory and

experiential learning,

community development

and capacity-building

Learners Audiences/target groups Participants/stakeholders

Implementation Mainly top down Through

partnerships/networks

Legitimacy Predominantly technical

expertise

Based on different ways

of knowing

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

5

5. ENABLERS AND BARRIERS

Stormwater education programs can be developed using the EFS approach outlined in

Table 1 yet struggle to be effective because enabling factors (or ‘enablers’) such as

appropriate community capacity, resourcing and institutional arrangements are not in

place. Similarly, the education programs may be constrained by ‘barriers’ such as

language, level of funding and lack of recognition.

Enablers are ‘catalysts’ for stormwater education programs to achieve behaviour change

(see Figure 4). The enabling factors may need to be built, modified, extended or better

coordinated to ensure the effectiveness of the program. Likewise, efforts may need to be

made to ‘break down’ or resolve barriers prior to program inception.

Institutional arrangements Sustainability knowledge

Networks Resourcing

Partnerships Infrastructure

Leadership Information sharing

Figure 4: Some factors that enable stormwater education programs to

achieve community behaviour change

6. THE PARTICIPATORY APPROACH.

According to Taylor and Wong (2002), participatory stormwater education programs,

‘promoting community involvement in defining problems and implementing strategies

are seen by most authors as more effective than traditional educational initiatives

developed by experts and imposed on a target audience’. Some drain stencilling and

Waterwatch/Streamwatch programs are examples of the participatory approach.

There has been increasing concern about the use of traditional ‘top-down’ approaches to

environmental education particularly by government agencies and local councils (Baker

2002). This ‘traditional’ approach involves communities receiving information mainly

through one-way dissemination e.g. agency or council media releases, publications. It

can alienate the ‘recipient’ from the decision-making process thus inhibiting sustainable

behaviour change.

Education Programs

ENABLERS Behaviour change

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

6

Elcome and Baines (1999) have developed a continuum (Figure 5) that shows a range of

community participation levels in environmental education programs.

Figure 5: Community participation levels

Organisations should seek to use the more participative levels in the continuum for

stormwater education programs. Allen, Kilvington and Horn (2002) suggest the

‘increased user involvement not only helps keep research and information transfer

relevant, and encourages stakeholders to take ownership of outcomes. It also provides

key people in the wider community who have to work together with new ideas and

perspectives, which they will share with others thus paving the way for improved user

thinking and change’.

Participation in stormwater education programs can lead communities towards

empowerment. Empowerment enables communities to decide on and set their own

pathways towards sustainability.

Page and Czuba (1999) stress that ‘to create change we must change individually to

enable us to become partners in solving the complex issues facing us. In collaborations

based on mutual respect, diverse perspectives, and a developing vision, people work

towards creative and realistic solutions. This synthesis of individual and collective

change is our understanding of the empowerment process.’

7. THE VALUE OF EVALUATION

A major weakness of many stormwater (and environmental) education programs is a

lack of evaluation. According to McDuff (2002), ‘the majority of environmental

education programs do not integrate ongoing evaluation into educational programming’.

In relation to stormwater education programs, Taylor and Wong (2002) have found that

‘the data analysis and reporting’ aspects of evaluation are ’often poor’. Reasons for this

include a change in personnel, lack of resourcing and short time frame of projects.

No influence over outcomes Total influence over outcomes

Informing Consulting Deciding Acting Supporting

Together Together Community

Decisions

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

7

Evaluation should be planned and commence at the beginning of a program or project.

Where possible, it should be participative involving stakeholders. It should direct

continual improvement throughout the program.

A model for evaluating the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of a program

integrated with planning is shown in Figure 6.

APPROPRIATENESS

EFFECTIVENESS

EFFICIENCY

Figure 6: Elements of the Logic Model for program planning including

evaluation

A particular concern for evaluating the effectiveness of stormwater education programs

is the reliance on self-reporting as an indicator of resultant behaviour change. According

to Taylor and Wong (2002), ‘research indicates that self-reporting of behaviour change

can, in some contexts, be unreliable and misleading’. Self-reported behaviour (e.g.

littering, recycling, tree planting) needs to be verified, where possible, in evaluation.

SITUATION (Reason for program)

OBJECTIVES

(What do we want to achieve)

INPUTS

(What we invest)

e.g. staff, time, money,

materials, partners

OUTPUTS

(What we do, who we reach)

e.g. training for Council staff

OUTCOMES

(Impacts)

e.g. learning, behaviour

change, long term benefits

I F

N A

F C

L T

E O

N R

C S

I

N

G

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

8

8. CLOSING TIPS

Everyone’s an educator! This is a double-edged sword: we all are involved in providing

some type of education during our lives but it may not necessarily be effective. The

same rings true for stormwater education: they are many providers but not all of their

programs are effective in achieving appropriate behaviour.

Based on the discussion in this paper, the Figure 7 provides a framework for strategic

planning of stormwater education programs.

Figure 7: A framework for strategic planning of a stormwater

education program

More specifically, the following tips are provided to make stormwater education

programs more effective:

• Identify appropriate behaviours and ways to measure these behaviours

STORMWATER EDUCATION PROGRAM

BARRIERS BARRIERS

SUSTAINABILITY BEHAVIOURS

E

N A B L E R S

SUSTAINABILITY

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

9

• Link education activities with other non-structural management tools

• Use a participatory approach with participants to planning, implementation and

evaluation

• Direct program activities to behavior change and not awareness

• Identify enablers and strengthen them if possible

• Identify barriers and attempt to overcome them

• Plan evaluation as an on-going process leading to continual improvement of the

program

REFERENCES

Allen, W, Kilvington, M., & Horn, C. (2002). Using Participatory and Learning-based

Approaches for Environmental Management to help achieve Behaviour Change.

Wellington, NZ: Landcare Research Report.

Baker, E. (2002). Preparing for Evaluation: Lessons from capacity building for natural

resource management. Paper presented to the 2002 Australasian Evaluation Society

International Conference.

Elcome, D., & Baines, J. (1999). Steps to success – working with residents and

neighbours to develop and implement plans for protected areas. Switzerland: IUCN

Commission on Education and Communication.

McDuff, M. (2002). Needs Assessment for Participatory Evaluation of Environmental

Education Programs. Applied Environmental Education and Communication Vol

1pp25-36

Molino Stewart (2004). The Central Coast and Lake Macquarie Environmental

Education Strategic Framework. Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management

Authority

Monroe, M.C., Day, B.A., & Grieser, M. (2000). GreenCom Weaves Four Strands. In

Day, B.A. & Monroe, M.C. (Eds.) Environmental Education and Communication for a

Sustainable World: Handbook for International Practioners. Washington D.C.:

Academy for Educational Development.

Neiswinder, C., & Shepard, R. (2002). Elements of Successful Stormwater Outreach

and Education. University of Wisconsin Extension Paper. Madison USA: University of

Wisconsin.

Stormwater Industry Association 2005 Regional Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW

SUSTAINABLE STORMWATER: You Are Responsible - Justify Your Decisions.

20-21 April 2005

10

NSW Council on Environmental Education (2002). Learning for Sustainability: NSW

Environmental Education Plan 2002-05. Sydney: NSW Government.

Page, N., & Czuba, C.E. (1999). Empowerment: What is it? Journal of Extension, Vol

37, No 5, October 1999.

Taylor, A., & Wong T. (2002). Non-structural Stormwater Quality Best Management

Practices – A Literature Review of their Value. CRC Technical Report. Canberra, ACT,

Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology

Young, M.D., Gunningham, N., Elix, J., Lambert.J. Howard, B., Grabosky, P., &

McGrone, E. (1996). Reinbursing the Future: An Evaluation Of Motivational,

Voluntary, Price-based, Property-right and Regulatory Incentives for the Conservation

of Biodiversity. Canberra: Division of Wildlife and Ecology, the Australian Centre for

Environmental Law and Community Solutions.