GROUNDWATER IS SEXY, IF YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK: HOW TO SELL GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY TO THE MASSES

Most people these days acknowledge sex sells. Sigmund Freud, the master of psychoanalysis, believed our unconscious mind unknowingly dictates all of our actions and feelings. However, sex didn’t start “selling” until his nephew, Edward Bernays, the first PR spin-doctor, wove together Freud’s life work with public behavior. Before Bernays it was abhorrent and sometimes unlawful for a woman to be caught smoking in public, after Bernays, it was sexy. His ability to manipulate the masses transformed “need based” consumers to “must have” consumers, forever altering marketing expectations.

As hydrogeologists, groundwater scientists, and managers, if we want the public to buy into our aspirations of safeguarding this invisible freshwater supply, we have to essentially “Bernays-it”. Bernays’ strategies ensured consumers were not buying a necessity; they were buying love, happiness, self-worth, social standing, etc. Bernays did not tell corporations how to sell their product; he showed them how to sell their customers an “experience”. Therefore in order to sell the importance of groundwater to the masses, those responsible for communicating this information should do so in a way that “sells an experience”.

In terms of water resources, the media shines at this. They will undoubtedly continue to stimulate our emotions about water. Although research shows, on an international level, collaboration rather than conflict is the norm, most would agree “water collaboration” is far less exciting than “water wars” and “toilet-to-tap” exerts more force on our senses than “recycled wastewater”.

So, how are we selling groundwater sustainability to the masses? Do charts expressing the percentage of groundwater versus global freshwater supply promote groundwater sustainability to the masses? Do words like aquifer, precipitation, permeability, recharge rate, etc. sell groundwater sustainability to the masses? This presentation attempts to answer these questions and to promote thoughtful dialogue by using case studies of successful and not so successful groundwater sustainability programs. Tools to “sell” groundwater sustainability will also be presented, including the use of non-dire, yet emotion inducing trustworthy language.