Table of Contents
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xv
List of Boxes xvii
List of Acronyms xix
Glossary xxiii
List of Contributors xxvii
Introduction xxxi
1 Urban water conflicts: Background and conceptual framework 1
1.1 UNESCO-IHP Taskforce on Urban Water Conflicts 1
1.2 Socioeconomic and institutional aspects of urban water management 2
1.3 Definition of urban water: an impure public good 4
1.4 A few methodologies for analysing urban water conflicts 9
1.5 Conclusions 13
2 Urban water conflicts in recent European history: Changing interactions between technology, environment and society 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.2 Governments intervene to provide long distance supply of clean water 17
2.3 From quantity at a distance to quality close at hand 20
2.4 The crisis of municipal water supply services 23
2.5 European water services and the three Es of sustainability 25
2.6 The new social issue of sustainability 28
2.7 Conclusion 30
3 Water, public responsibility and equity: The Barcelona ‘water war’ of the 1990s 33
4 Full circle? Public responsibility versus privatization of water supplies in the United States 39
4.1 Urban water supply before 1830 40
4.2 The rise of the public water utility, 1830–1920 41
4.3 Expansion of water supply systems, 1920–1945 44
4.4 Metropolitan expansion and new demands on water supplies, 1945–1970 45
4.5 From infrastructure crisis to privatization, 1970–2004 46
4.6 Conclusion 53
5 Public-private partnership in courts: The rise and fall of concessions to supply drinking water in France (1875–1928) 57
5.1 Corpus and context 58
5.2 The origin of conflicts: is drinking water a profit-oriented service? 60
5.3 CE position: under a concession contract, drinking water is a profit-oriented activity 62
5.3.1 Amendments should be negotiated by the parties on the grounds of the initial contract’s status quo 63
5.3.2 Local authorities had no right to renegotiate access to private service 63
5.3.3 The CE restrictions on contract termination 64
5.4 The consequence of CE decisions on water supply management 64
5.5 Conclusion 66
6 In search of (hidden) Portuguese urban water conflicts: The Lisbon water story (1856–2006) 69
6.1 A century of Portuguese water services: evolution, accomplishments and failures 69
6.2 The Lisbon water story 74
6.2.1 Liberal waters (1858–1926) 74
6.2.2 Authoritarian waters (1926–1974) 78
6.2.3 Democratic waters (1974–2006) 81
6.3 Urban water conflicts: from the unfinished welfare state to the new regulatory state 84
6.4 Concluding remarks: hidden conflicts or potential conflicts? 87
7 Water supply services in the cities of Brazil: Conflicts, challenges and new opportunities in regulation 93
7.1 Introduction 93
7.2 The institutional conflicts and challenges 95
7.3 Economic conflicts and challenges 99
7.4 Socio-environmental challenges and conflicts: social inequality and environmental degradation 104
7.5 New opportunities in water and services management: regulation and conflict-resolution 106
8 Urban water conflicts in Buenos Aires: Voices questioning the sustainability of the water and sewerage concession 111
8.1 Introduction 111
8.1.1 The social urban context 112
8.1.2 Water services before privatization 112
8.1.3 The private sector operating the largest water concession in the world 113
8.1.4 Development of the chapter 115
8.2 Economic sustainability issues leading to political conflict and conflict among users 115
8.2.1 Financing the expansion of the network: the SUMA conflict 115
8.2.2 Devaluation of the Argentinean peso: renegotiation of the concession contract 117
8.3 Social sustainability issues: bringing water services to the poor 120
8.3.1 Bringing water and sewerage networks to poor neighbourhoods 120
8.3.2 The social tariff: a response to the recent inability of Argentina’s middle class to cope with the water bill 123
8.4 The evolution of the ‘environmental question’ in the context of the water sector privatization and the concession process 123
8.4.1 Water table rise, flooding and environmental conflict 124
8.4.2 Urban water conflict and environmental conflict: the Lomas de Zamora Water Forum 125
8.4.3 The ‘environmental problem’ and the need for a responding institution 126
8.5 Conclusion 127
9 In search of meaningful interdisciplinarity: Understanding urban water conflicts in Mexico 129
9.1 Introduction 129
9.2 Urban water conflicts in Mexico from a historical perspective 129
9.3 Urban water conflict events in Mexico 132
9.4 Explaining urban water conflicts 139
9.5 Concluding remarks 142
10 Conflict versus cooperation between the state and civil society: A water-demand management comparison between Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa 147
10.1 Background to the South African water context 149
10.2 Case study 1: Johannesburg 150
10.2.1 Institutional profile of water service provision in Johannesburg 150
10.2.2 The Gcin’ Amanzi Project 151
10.2.3 Community response 154
10.3 Case study 2: Cape Town 156
10.3.1 The state of municipal debt: the driver behind Cape Town’s WDM approach 157
10.3.2 Mfuleni pilot project 158
10.3.3 Water saving device options 159
10.4 CSO response 161
10.5 The political terrain of the two cities 161
10.6 Conclusion 165
11 Conflicts of influence and competing models: The boom in community-based privatization of water services in sub-Saharan Africa 169
11.1 Water supply systems in urban areas with no network connection 171
11.1.1 Dispelling a myth: the spread of public-private partnerships from large cities 171
11.1.2 Project-based rationale and systems involving decentralized players: behind the profusion, a model 178
11.2 The limitations of community-based privatization 180
11.2.1 Dysfunctions of the model . . . 180
11.2.2 . . . or an unsuitable model? 181
11.3 The community-based model versus the public model: ideological domination at stake 184
11.3.1 The need for efficient sectoral approaches and depoliticization of management 185
11.3.2 The supposed advantages of community-based regulation 185
11.3.3 A deep distrust of local public authorities 188
11.4 Conclusion 190
12 Governance failure: Urban water and conflict in Jakarta, Indonesia 195
12.1 Introduction: watering Jakarta 195
12.2 Splintered urbanism: fragmented access to urban water supply 196
12.3 Urban governance: the production of thirst 198
12.4 Going private: conflict over the water supply concession contract for the city of Jakarta 202
12.4.1 The private sector participation contract in Jakarta 203
12.4.2 Re-regulation: tariffs, profits and conflictual re-negotiation of the contract 206
12.4.3 Conflicts with water utility workers: labour-led protests and unrest 207
12.4.4 Connecting the poor? Conflict over tariffs and pricing 208
12.4.5 Pro-poor initiatives 211
12.5 Conclusions: governance failure 214
13 Man-made scarcity, unsustainability and urban water conflicts in Indian cities 221
13.1 Introduction 221
13.2 Our understanding of urban water conflicts 222
13.3 The issue of water access in Delhi 223
13.3.1 Users’ strategies and cross-bred networks 224
13.3.2 The question of sustainability 225
13.3.3 A chaotic reform process and unexpected outcomes 226
13.4 Chennai: expanding needs and growing conflicts with peri-urban users 228
13.4.1 The central role of the peripheral groundwater 229
13.4.2 Short-term winners and losers: a transition towards conflict? 230
13.5 Conclusion: a common framework of weak and ineffective conflict resolution mechanisms 233
14 Urban water conflicts in the western US 237
14.1 Water development and the environment 238
14.2 Water in California and the transfer from agriculture to urban areas 238
14.3 Introduction to the Imperial Valley case 240
14.4 The decision-making process leading to trading 241
14.5 Decision-making in San Diego 243
14.6 Institutions, spatial scale and inter-regional relations 245
14.7 Conclusion 245
15 Urban water reform in Italy: A live bomb behind outward unanimity 247
15.1 The weaving of Penelope 247
15.2 Path towards the reform: the crisis of the traditional model 249
15.3 The reform 254
15.4 A new model for providing WSS: challenges and trade-offs 257
15.5 Implementing the WFD: the first challenge for the privatized water system 261
15.6 Conclusions 265
16 Water infrastructures between commercialization and shrinking: The case of Eastern Germany 269
16.1 Introduction 269
16.2 The German water market in transition: the main transformations in water supply and wastewater disposal 270
16.3 From ‘flourishing landscapes’ to shrinking regions: post-reunification developments in Eastern Germany 272
16.4 Conflicts about infrastructure supply and privatization: the case of Brandenburg and Frankfurt (Oder) 275
16.5 Learning from shrinking regions 279
17 Urban water conflicts and sustainability: An ecological-economic approach 285
17.1 Introduction 285
17.2 Sustainability and carrying capacity in the water domain 286
17.3 The parabola of urban water systems 291
17.3.1 The ‘further from farther’ crisis 291
17.3.2 Modernization and sustainability of urban water management 294
17.3.3 Drivers of modernization 296
17.4 Towards a general understanding of UWC 299
17.4.1 Conflicts as indicators of urban water sustainability 299
17.4.2 Interpretative frames: actors in conflict 300
17.4.3 Interpretative frames: categories of conflict 305
Index 311