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NITROGEN-REDUCING INNOVATIVE/ALTERNATIVE (I/A) SEPTIC SYSTEMS: SOCIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR ADOPTION AND STRATEGIES TO DIFFUSE THEM
Citation:
Rudman, A., K. Mulvaney, N. Merrill, AND Katherine Canfield. NITROGEN-REDUCING INNOVATIVE/ALTERNATIVE (I/A) SEPTIC SYSTEMS: SOCIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THEIR ADOPTION AND STRATEGIES TO DIFFUSE THEM. NEERS Spring 2022 Meeting, Salem, MA, June 02 - 04, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation is geared towards environmental managers and decision makers considering a suite of alternative technologies to address nutrient loading from septic systems. Traditionally, efforts to evaluate alternative technologies as tools to address nutrient loading have focused on the technical and economic aspects of these technologies, overlooking social and cognitive considerations that would influence their implementation. With an explicit focus on Innovative/Alternative (I/A) septic systems, we present social and cognitive factors influencing the adoption of these systems identified through a series of focus groups. We create a mental model of I/A system adoption to help decision makers understand and use these factors to better target communication, outreach, and interventions aimed at encouraging the use of these systems. We use the results of the focus groups to recommend behavior change strategies that decision makers can implement to encourage the adoption of these systems if they are to be used as a water quality improvement tool.
Description:
As persistent nitrogen loading from septic systems threatens coastal water quality in southern New England, decision makers are considering the adoption of alternative nitrogen-remediating technologies. Efforts evaluating these technologies have examined their technical and economic efficiency, overlooking social and cognitive factors critical to their implementation. This research describes socio-cognitive factors influencing homeowners’ willingness to adopt one such technology, Innovative/Alternative (I/A) septic systems, identified through focus groups with adopters and prospective adopters in Massachusetts. Informed by the literature on technology adoption, we create a mental model of I/A system adoption to help decision makers develop more targeted and effective messaging and interventions around adoption. We use these findings, and insights from behavior change and technology diffusion literature, to propose behavior change strategies to encourage the adoption of I/A systems if they are to be used to improve water quality.
