Assess a person's attitude the way he uses water

In our childhood, we were told about a story which concludes that the person using more water is spend thrift and thus faces problem every time. The story is briefly as below.

There were two women in a neighbourhood. One woman borrow some money from the other but fails to return after sometime and replies that she never borrowed. The lender complains to the village head. He calls both women and asks them to stamp with their feet, the mud with some water in front of his house. After sometime, he asks both of them to wash their feet and come inside. The lender washes her feet thoroughly with little quantity of water whereas the borrower uses lot of water and walks inside with some mud left on her feet and makes the floor dirty. The village head rules that the woman actually borrowed money from the other woman, she does not have any control over her expenditure and to avoid repayment she lied to the other woman. He asks her to pay the money borrowed with penal interest.

It appears true as I observed my own water use pattern. When use water judiciously, I also spend money wisely and at times when I use water without concern, my attitude towards spending money also in those lines.
This type of understanding may be true for human behaviour in all respects including safety. However, it requires some study by framing suitable questionnaire and also talking to people who are involved in accidents, rash driving, less respect for safety, not concerned to follow safety procedures, so on.
It's only my thought and I will come out with results, if the assumption is supported with some evidence.