Intra-household dynamics and their effects on water insecurity

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。为了应对与环境变化有关的持续挑战，供水成本正在迅速上升。水资源短缺不仅影响饮用水，还影响许多其他用途，并可能影响其质量。家庭如何管理不断上涨的水费以减轻跨领域水资源短缺的风险尚不清楚。尽管多方家庭共同努力以汇集资源并将风险降至最低的重要性已得到充分证明。本研究利用经济和生态人类学的理论来了解家庭结构和功能如何影响与水不安全相关的社会和经济压力因素，以及这些压力因素造成的家庭内部紧张关系。该项目对学生进行培训，协调向学术界和非学术界推广和传播研究成果，并为设计有效方法应对这些政策挑战提供急需的见解。该项目使用社会水文学方法来研究水价快速上涨对居住在水不安全社区的不同家庭的影响。重点是家庭内部动态，包括家庭人口结构及其对感知的社会经济权衡的影响，以及对家庭成员福祉的影响。调查人员使用人种学（访谈、焦点小组）、人口统计学（调查）和GIS制图方法的新颖组合来调查家庭热脆弱性、水使用、经济压力因素以及家庭组成和功能的各个方面。在此过程中，该研究为家庭、个人和水安全之间的动态反馈提供了一个整体的、多层次的视角。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The cost of the water supply is rising rapidly to confront ongoing challenges related to environmental change. Water shortages affect not only drinking water, but many other uses and potentially its quality as well. How households manage the rising costs of water to mitigate risks of water shortages across domains is not well understood. This is despite the well documented importance of multi-person households working together to pool resources and minimize risks. This research leverages theory from economic and ecological anthropology to understand how household structure and function affect social and economic stressors associated with water insecurity, as well as the intra-household tensions created by such stressors. This project trains students and coordinates outreach and dissemination of findings to academic and non-academic communities, and contributes much-needed insights to design effective ways to manage these policy challenges.The project uses a socio-hydrology approach to examine the impact of rapidly rising water prices on diverse households residing in water-insecure neighborhoods. The focus is on intra-household dynamics, including household demographic structure and its effects on perceived socio-economic tradeoffs, and impacts on household members’ well-being. The investigators use a novel combination of ethnographic (interviews, focus groups), demographic (surveys), and GIS mapping methods to investigate home heat vulnerability, water use, economic stressors, and aspects of household composition and function. In doing so, the research provides a holistic, multi-level perspective on the dynamic feedbacks between households, individuals, and water insecurityThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.