A Moral Economy of Water: Charity Wells in Egypt's Nile Delta

Abstract

Though commonly viewed as a human right, access to water is often difficult and highly unequal within and between communities, depending on various social and power relations, access mechanisms and property rights regimes. However, moral norms and subsistence ethics can also play a balancing role, enhancing access to water for vulnerable groups and individuals, particularly in contexts of water scarcity. Using the example of a Nile Delta village, this article explores the role of charitable water wells (sobol) in influencing both irrigation and drinking water access relations, by understanding their different modes of governance and the motivations behind their emergence. The article argues that charitable norms underlying sobol are dynamic. They stem from certain moral ideologies concerning religion, property and reciprocity, and while they do greatly enhance access to water, it is with varying degrees, limitations and remaining access discrepancies. Sobol alter property rights relations, extending entitlements to water, but their effectiveness is also limited by existing property rights regimes. Sobol are also limited by existing anti-cooperative actions, and being embedded in an inequitable access system, they may not fully counterbalance inequitable water access. The limitations of cooperative water access arrangements should be counterweighed and complemented by overarching and equitable water distribution systems.

Household water sharing: A review of water gifts, exchanges, and transfers across cultures

“…Moral economies produce norms that govern how resources should be exchanged and may be understood to uphold a human right to water. Recent studies have explored how the moral economy concept animates water-related altruism and exchanges in Egypt (ElDidi & Corbera, 2017), Italy (Fantini, 2014), and the United States (Arnold, 2017). Research on inter-household water sharing in Bolivia has also indicated that a moral economy of water underlies reciprocal obligations to share water and moral commitments to survival and subsistence (Wutich, 2011, p. 20).…”

‘I know how stressful it is to lack water!’ Exploring the lived experiences of household water insecurity among pregnant and postpartum women in western Kenya

“…Water insecurity has consequences for physical (Geere, Hunter, & Jagals, 2010;Prüss-Ustün et al, 2014) and mental health (Aihara, Shrestha, Kazama, & Nishida, 2015;W. Jepson, 2014;Stevenson et al, 2012;Workman & Ureksoy, 2017;Wutich & Ragsdale, 2008), interpersonal and community relations (El Didi & Corbera, 2017;Mason, 2014;Wutich, 2011), and daily routines (Sultana, 2009). Water insecurity is expected to worsen due to climate change, increased global water use, and inequalities in water distribution (Cook & Bakker, 2012;Department of Defense, 2014).…”

Patungan Wakaf Online

“…Perkembangan teknologi ini rasanya menjadikan praktek filantropi dalam Islam--yang umumnya dipahami sebagai aktivitas memberi secara sukarela dan membantu individu lain yang sedang kesulitan--bisa bertansformasi menjadi filantropi ideal sebagaimana yang dibayangkan oleh banyak kalangan (ElDidi and Corbera 2017;Fauzia 2017;O'Brien 2015). Bentuk filantropi ideal tersebut, mengacu pada definisi Robert Payton (Payton and Moody 2008), dapat dijelaskan sebagai perbuatan sukarela untuk kemashalatan umum.…”