Water Governance Atlas
The Water Governance Atlas brings in dialogue place-specific experiences of water around the world. The Atlas shows many water injustices but is also hopeful: people struggle for water justice and help us dream about the many water worlds possible.
Caribbean coast, Colombia, 2022.
Blinded and eyes shut. In denial, struggling between politicizing and depoliticizing water and all the shades of blue, green, gray, brown, and black in between.
Mural from Brebes ArtDictive on flooded house in Semarang, Indonesia, 2022.
Bending over the water, you can see your reflection. Before acting on or with water, know how it makes you feel. Look into the river. What do you see?
Garzweiler coal mine, Germany, 2019
Let’s break binaries when thinking about water and water governance. It is not water or society, but water and society. Technical and political, local and global, control and care.
Abandoned truck of a water treatment plant in Kisumu, Kenya, 2023.
Waters are messy. To ensure safe water access and provide for ecosystems worldwide, we need to move beyond the restrictive ideal of transparent H2O flowing out of pipes.
Beyond the surface: Understanding problem context in water governance
The traits of the water problems matter when it comes to understanding why certain governance approaches work in some places, but not in others. Some water problems need quick action; others are complex and need responses that understand ecological processes and interconnections. We identify different water-related issues and understand to what extent they may shape how governance arrangements are crafted.
Patterns of water governance.
Global.
Sustainable development.
Are solar-powered water kiosks a “game changer” for rural water services?
Evidence from Mali suggests that solar kiosks are not a definitive solution to nuanced and dynamic rural water user behaviours.
Patterns of water governance.
West Africa.
Engineering and infrastructureSustainable developmentTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
Groundwater and the political between the drops: Urban clean water shortage in Java, Indonesia
The big picture of water scarcity in Java, Indonesia provides ample graphs and dramatic pictures of decreasing water quality and trends of more frequent seasonal droughts. This concern has been severe enough for Java to be classified as a region of water shortage since the 1980s in the ‘Global Water Scarcity Atlas’
Patterns of water governance.
OceaniaSouth-East Asia.
Colonial and post-colonial power.
FloodingTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
Economic water scarcityPhysical water scarcity.
“We use a thief to catch a thief”
Around the world, there is growing interest in how governments can partner with informal water providers. In Kisumu, Kenya, the utility is twenty years into a partnership with former ‘water cartels’ to ensure clean water supply to the most vulnerable residents.
Patterns of water governance.
East Africa.
Colonial and post-colonial powerDepoliticization.
Capacity buildingEngineering and infrastructureSustainable developmentTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
Economic water scarcityPhysical water scarcity.
A Translocal Journey to Three Territories with Mining-Caused Water Problems
Join me on a brief journey to three places across Europe and Central America, all affected by mining and the interventions of extractive industries for decades. Find out what water problems mining has caused and what the different cases have in common!
Paradigms of water governace.
Latin AmericaWestern Europe.
Contestation and resistanceDepoliticization.
FloodingTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
Politics of uncertaintiesPower dynamics.
Rainwater harvesting for irrigation in semi-arid regions of Kenya
Irrigation consumes the up to 70% of freshwater globally. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, irrigation development is increasing, placing strain on water resources.
Paradigms of water governace.
East Africa.
Sustainable developmentTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
DroughtIrrigationPhysical water scarcity.
Thirsty for Alternatives: recommoning water
In this section, I share the stories of Terrassa (Spain) and Naples (Italy), two mid to large sized cities that succeeded to remunicipalise their water utilities through bottom up mobilisations, and declare water as a common good.
Paradigms of water governace.
Western Europe.
Contestation and resistanceWater conflicts.
Capacity building.
Consultancy Firms and Their Globetrotting Ideas
There has been much talk about how private players, in other words, businesses, can provide services, build infrastructure and support governments in putting public policies into action.
Paradigms of water governace.
Latin AmericaWestern Europe.
Colonial and post-colonial powerDepoliticization.
Capacity buildingClimate discoursesEngineering and infrastructureSustainable developmentTechnologies adoptions and technical fixes.
Drought.
A Chart of “The Mar Menor crisis: A Bric-a-brac antinarrative”
This piece traces the path have been illegitimately walking to constellate the stories weaved into “The Mar Menor crisis: A Bric-a-brac antinarrative”.
Problématiques of water governance.
Western Europe.
Contestation and resistanceWater conflicts.
Irrigation.
Travel in the brain of EU water actors: a place of chaos, dilemmas and emotions
The ecological and chemical status of water quality in Europe has been stagnating for the last two decades in the vast majority of member states, even though innovative and radical legislation for improving water quality was proposed by the European Commission in 2000, in the form of a Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC).
Eastern EuropeWestern Europe.
Contestation and resistance.
Sustainable development.
Scarcity of water governance or water scarcity?
Water shortage is a multifaceted challenge that has long existed in various parts of the world, but its impact has been amplified by recent trends, such as increasing urbanization, agricultural intensification, economic development, population growth, maritime trade, and extreme hydroclimatic changes (He et al., 2021; Kummu et al., 2016).
Problématiques of water governance.
East Africa.
Flooding.
DroughtEconomic water scarcityPhysical water scarcity.
Immaterial infrastructures in the Mekong Region’s transboundary rivers
This project explores the unbuilt, unseen, and temporal aspects of hydraulic infrastructure development in transboundary rivers and the hydropolitical tensions that these enhance.
Problématiques of water governance.
South-East Asia.
Water conflicts.
Climate discoursesEngineering and infrastructure.
Politics of uncertainties.
