Household water insecurity and its cultural dimensions: preliminary results from Newtok, Alaska

Abstract

Using a relational approach, I examine several cultural dimensions involved in household water access and use in Newtok, Alaska. I describe the patterns that emerge around domestic water access and use, as well as the subjective lived experiences of water insecurity including risk perceptions, and the daily work and hydro-social relationships involved in accessing water from various sources. I found that Newtok residents haul water in limited amounts from a multitude of sources, both treated and untreated, throughout the year. Household water access is tied to hydro-social relationships predicated on sharing and reciprocity, particularly when the primary treated water access point is unavailable. Older boys and young men are primarily responsible for hauling water, and this role appears to be important to male Yupik identity. Many interviewees described preferring to drink untreated water, a practice that appears related to cultural constructions of natural water sources as pure and self-purifying, as well as concerns about the safety of treated water. Concerns related to the health consequences of low water access appear to differ by gender and age, with women and elders expressing greater concern than men. These preliminary results point to the importance of understanding the cultural dimensions involved in household water access and use. I argue that institutional responses to water insecurity need to incorporate such cultural dimensions into solutions aimed at increasing household access to and use of water.

Advancing methods for research on household water insecurity: Studying entitlements and capabilities, socio-cultural dynamics, and political processes, institutions and governance

“…Romero-Lankao et al 2016, Varady et al 2016, de Grenade et al 2016, Lemos et al 2016). Scholars have described how climate change and seasonal environmental factors affect household water security, as well as related coping mechanisms and cultural dimensions (Eichelberger 2017; Pearson, Mayer, and Bradley 2015; Pearson, Zwickle et al 2016; Hadley and Wutich 2009). There has been limited conceptual work to unpack ecological dynamics as a component of household water insecurity.…”

“…Participant observation and semi-structured interviews can be used to discover and describe local forms of water acquisition, as in the role of yapa (bonus gift) in Bolivia’s informal water markets (Wutich et al 2016). Observation, diary methods, and structured recall can be used to systematically assess how much water is obtained through a single or complex combination of non-market water entitlements, as in Eichelberger’s (2010, 2017) exploration of reciprocal and community forms of water acquisition in Alaskan villages. Even more robust methods may be required for systematic, comparative research relevant to the many research contexts in which non-market entitlements play an important role in household water insecurity dynamics.…”

“…Ethnographic case studies describe the intersecting factors shaping the lived experiences, water-related health concerns, household coping mechanisms, and cultural roles and knowledges involved in water insecurity at individual, household and community levels (e.g., Eichelberger 2016, 2017, Mason 2012, Ferguson 2005, Whiteford and Cortez-Lara 2005, Ennis-McMillan 2001). Using participant observation, interviews, and focus groups, researchers identify core themes in lived experiences of HWI, such as lack of funds or time to obtain water, forced trade-offs, constrained food and drink availability, poor hygiene, and health impacts.…”

“…Better understandings of water security can be supported through the valuation of water's symbolic qualities of purity, sustainer of life and livelihood, and representation of the gods (e.g., archaeological analyses in Scarborough 1998, Davis-Salazar 2003, Lucero 2006). These symbolic meanings may influence water source choices, and how households evaluate the quality of natural drinking water sources (e.g., Eichelberger 2017). In addition, peoples’ material needs may be addressed by, or inflected through, non-material processes or phenomena such as the use of water for symbolic purposes (Staddon and Everard 2017, Norman 2017).…”

Water insecurity: An agenda for research and call to action for human biology

“…These studies and others (Eichelberger, ) hint that there might be some global movement toward gender equity in water fetching—and its negative physical and psychological impacts. Future research (exploratory and confirmatory) should examine gender and the many complex ways that it interacts with experiences of water insecurity, biocultural phenomena, and human biological outcomes.…”