A R T I C L E  I N F O		ABSTRACT
ORIGINAL ARTICLE		Introduction: Zarrin Dasht is one of the low rainy areas of Fars province, which has faced repeated droughts in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of education on the tendency towards water use efficiency in housewives of Zarrin Dasht. Materials and Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 130 patients (65 cases and 65 controls) were selected from housewives of Zarrin Dasht by cluster random sampling from four health centers. Data collection instrument was a standard, two-part questionnaire (demographic data and water saving tendency) that was a water saving standard. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 24 software. Results: The results of this study showed that the intervention was effective on the tendency of housewives to water use efficiency. There was a significant difference between the above variables before and after the intervention in the intervention group, and the relationship between age and occupation, and tendency to water use efficiency was statistically significant. Conclusion: Considering that education has a positive effect on women's tendency to water use efficiency, so providing water management education to housewives can lead to modification of consumption pattern.
Article History: Received:16 November 2018 Accepted: 20 February 2019
*Corresponding Author: Mohammad Taghi Ghaneian Email: mtghaneian@yahoo.com Tel: +983531492153
Keywords: Drinking Water, Efficiency, Women, Education, Zarrin Dasht City.

Introduction
Water crises are one of the most severe environmental crises in the world ¹. Water is one of the most valuable environmental factors that contribute significantly to human life and health ². According to estimates, at least 50 countries will face fresh water scarcity by 2050, including Iran, although the average rainfall in Iran is one third of the global average ³. But the per capita consumption of all household, agricultural and industrial sectors is higher than global standards. For example, per capita domestic water consumption in Iran is 220 liters per day, while its standard in the world is only 75 liters ⁴.  Household water is a basic requirement for human well-being and economic activity. Water supply and treatment for domestic consumption and drinking are long processes, and sometimes the cost of this operation is 10 times as much as that of agricultural water due to restrictions on domestic water ⁵. There are many factors for the positive attitude toward water use, including environmental awareness, information, the presence of women at home, the existence of drought and perceptions of cost-effectiveness ⁵. Water use efficiency also reduces stupendous costs of water and wastewater treatment and adverse environmental effects of sewage disposal as well as energy saving ⁶. Among the methods of water use efficiency, public education and the use of low-consumption equipment and components are the most welcome. Therefore, promotional and educational programs should provide extensive education to increase citizens' awareness of the state of the water in the country and their pattern of use, so that in addition to raising awareness, it increases the sensitivity of people to the problem ⁵. Women have played a more responsible role in preserving the environment as a major and determinant subpopulation throughout history. Therefore, many scholars believe that the promotion of environmental culture in any society, is mainly possible through well-informed and empowered women. The important role of women in environmental management activities has led to a further emphasis, in global agendas such as Agenda 21, on educational planning aimed at raising women's ability and knowledge to participate in development affairs, as one of the responsibilities of governments. The reason for emphasizing these educations is that the role of women in environmental education is not an individual role and, if women are trained, their environmental knowledge is several times higher than that of men ⁷. In the study of  Bazdar, to investigate the effect of education on water use efficiency, the results indicated that education had a positive effect on water efficiency use ⁵. In a study by Willis et al. to investigate the impact of environmental attitudes and water use efficiency on domestic water consumption, the results showed that households with a positive attitude towards environmental concerns and water use efficiency had lower overall water consumption and this attitude affected all their behaviors in the bathroom, clothing, washing, irrigation, and leaving tap water faucet turned ⁸. Zarrin Dasht is located in the dry region of Iran and there were continuous years of drought in this area. Furthermore, women have a prominent role in promoting the culture of efficient use and saving in their families. They also can transfer this culture to their children and future generations. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, no study has ever been conducted on this subject. Considering all the above-mentioned ideas, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of education on the tendency towards water use efficiency in housewives of Zarrin Dasht.
Materials and Methods
This semi-experimental study of pretest-posttest type was carried out from December to March 2013. A sample consisting of 130 housewives in Zarrin Dasht were selected by random cluster sampling from four urban and rural health centers of Hajiabad, Khasvih, Dabiran, and Shahrpir. The samples were selected based on the population covered by each center and using lottery of the household health records number, and then were divided into two groups of 65 person. To prevent contamination of samples, after lottery, samples in neighborhoods or kinship with the control group were removed and replaced. Then, by calling the individuals by telephone and obtaining their consent to participate in the study, necessary coordination were made to participate in the ongoing research process. The data collection instrument was a two-part water use efficiency questionnaire, which was used in a similar study ³. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts on health education, environmental health engineering, human ecology and geography, and its reliability obtained 0.87 using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The questionnaire consisted of demographic variables (age, occupation, educational level, economic status, number of family members, and housing situation) and 12 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (I absolutely agree, I agree, No idea, I disagree, I absolutely disagree). Five choices for each item were scored from one to five, so each person attained a total score of 12-60 points on the 12 items. The inclusion criteria were housewives living in Zarrin Dasht and attending the program until the end of the study. Exclusion criteria were lack of participation in the educational program or lack of completely filling out the questionnaire. At baseline of the study, the conditions were explained for the women, and finally, those who were willing to participate in the study were included.  In pre-test, the questionnaire was administered as self-report in both groups and filled out by two trained investigators in the above-mentioned health centers. The completion time of each questionnaire lasted 10-15 minutes. Then, based on the obtained information, two hours education sessions were provided for the housewives by the environmental health expert in the health center of the city. Two months after the last session, post-test was performed. Prior to the study, explanations were given about the research objectives and the voluntary participation as well as the confidentiality of the information obtained from the individuals. Data were entered into the SPSS version 24, and due to the normal distribution of data on water use efficiency, analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and percentage), paired
t-test, independent t-test, and chi-square.
The significance level in this research was considered 0.05.
Results
The mean age of women was 36.42 ± 15.53 and 44.61% were in the range of 15-30 years old. Among women, 50.76% were housewives. The majority were tenants (47.69%) and had secondary education certificate (27.69%). 56.15% of the people lived in a 3-5 individual family. There was no significant difference in demographic variables between two groups (Table 1).

Variable	Status	Total		Case		Control		P-value
		Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Age	15-30	58	44.61	29	44.6	29	44.6	0.07
	31-45	31	23.84	10	15.4	21	32.3
	46-60	24	18.46	15	23.1	9	13.8
	> 60	17	13.07	11	16.9	6	9.2
Occupation	Housewife	66	50.76	35	53.8	31	47.7	0.82
	Clerk	24	18.46	10	15.4	14	21.5
	Self-employed	14	10.76	7	10.8	7	10.8
	Retired	26	20	13	20	13	20
Education level	Elementary school	20	15.38	11	16.9	9	13.8	0.86
	Guidance school	36	27.69	20	30.8	16	24.6
	High school	25	19.23	12	18.5	13	20
	High school diploma	28	21.53	13	20	15	23.1
	Academic	21	64.61	9	13.8	12	18.5
Economic status	Good	28	13.84	13	12.3	15	23.1	0.75
	Average	84	64.61	44	67.7	40	61.5
	Poor	18	13.84	8	12.3	10	15.4
Number of family members	< 3	23	17.69	13	20	10	15.4	0.46
	4-5	73	56.15	36	55.4	37	56.9
	6-7	15	11.53	5	7.7	10	15.4
	> 7	19	14.61	11	16.9	8	12.3
Housing status	Owner	48	36.92	24	16.9	24	36.9	0.87
	Rental	62	47.69	30	46.2	32	49.2
	Living with family (parents, etc.)	20	15.38	11	16.9	9	13.8

   As Table 2 shows, the intervention is effective on the tendency of housewives to water use efficiency. Paired t-test showed a significant difference in the above variables before and after the intervention in the case group, while in the control group, there was no significant difference between the case and control groups before and after the intervention.

Time of test administration                                                       Variable	Pre-test			Post-test		p-value
	Group	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Tendency to water use efficiency	Case	36	4.93	48.86	4.20	0.000= P
	Control	35.69	5.01	36.01	4.50	0.907= P

There was no statistically significant difference between the mean and standard deviation of the tendency to water use efficiency in housewives in two groups of case and control with respect
to demographic variables before intervention
(Table 3).

Variable	Status	Case		Control
		Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age	15-30	36	4.93	35.86	4.20
	31-45	35.54	5.21	36.01	4.50
	46-60	36	4.93	55.86	4.20
	> 60	35.54	5.21	36.01	4.50
p-value		0.12		0.11
Occupation	Housewife	37.30	4.37	35.56	4.20
	Clerk	35.47	4.07	35.01	4.21
	Self-employed	36.9036.50	5.63	35.86	5.20
	Retired		4.11	36.21	4.87
p-value		0.09		0.81
Education level	Elementary school	34.01	4.21	35.65	5.20
	Guidance school	36.86	6.20	35.01	4.41
	High school	35.14	5.24	36.84	4.93
	High school diploma	35.07	4.07	35.54	5.21
	Academic	36.84	5.21	36	4.93
p-value		0.86		0.13
Economic status	Good	38.21	5.21	32.84	6.21
	Average	38.86	5.28	32.14	5.90
	Poor	38.21	4.04	32.36	4.87
p-value		0.75		0.65
Number of family members	> 3	35.74	4.32	36.94	4.12
	4-5	35.01	5.50	35.51	4.70
	6-7	35.86	4.96	34.86	4.25
	> 7	35.62	5.50	35.12	5.11
p-value		0.69		0.46
Housing status	Owner	34.01	6.50	37.51	4.70
	Rental	34.76	4.91	34.86	4.25
	Living with family (parents, etc.)	34.62	4.40	32.16	4.96
p-value		0.87		0.07

There was a statistically significant difference between the mean and standard deviation of
the tendency to water use efficiency in housewives in case group with respect to age (P = 0.03)
and occupation (P = 0.03) after intervention
(Table 4).

Variable	Status	Case		Control
		Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age	15-30	48.86	4.20	36	4.93
	31-45	59.51	5.51	35.87	5.07
	46-60	47.32	6.61	55.36	4.67
	> 60	39.39	4.48	35.54	5.21
p-value		0.02		0.20
Occupation	Housewife	60.30	10.37	35.74	4.32
	Clerk	53.47	9.07	36.01	5.50
	Self-employed	51.90	10.63	35.86	5.96
	Retired	57.50	10.11	34.62	5.17
p-value		0.04		0.09
Education level	Elementary school	48.86	4.20	35.74	4.32
	Guidance school	44.51	5.01	35.64	4.84
	High school	47.32	6.61	37.01	5.50
	High school diploma	45.18	84.48	35.86	4.96
	Academic	45.17	84.5	33.62	5.70
p-value		0.69		0.11
Economic status	Good	50.86	4.20	38.64	4.84
	Average	46.51	5.18	37.47	5.08
	Poor	47.32	6.01	35.86	4.91
p-value		0.54		0.14
Number of family members	< 3	48.86	6.20	35.65	4.32
	4-5	46.51	5.11	35.71	5.17
	6-7	47.32	6.61	35.86	4.87
	> 7	48.39	4.88	36.62	5.50
p-value		0.87		0.15
Housing status	Owner	46.51	4.11	34.24	6.18
	Rental	49.32	6.61	34.86	4.41
	Living with family (parents, etc.)	45.39	4.19	34.62	4.40
p-value		0.27		0.21

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