Reconfiguring urban waterscape: water kiosks in Delhi as a new governance model

Abstract

International organizations firmly ratifying the human right to water though neoliberal reforms have pushed for increasing commodification and marketization of water. Accelerated urbanization in cities of the Global South have intensified problems associated with access to water and innovative solutions such as water kiosks are seen as the future of water access in underserved areas. This paper studies access to potable water in four resettlement colonies of Delhi with a focus on the water kiosks which operate in these colonies. Tracing the broader reforms which have been initiated in the public utility (Delhi Jal Board), the paper investigates the model of water kiosk of these colonies and the extent to which access to water has been impacted by the introduction of the water kiosks. Based on the processes of changes and continuities in the waterscapes of formal yet marginal spaces in the city and concomitant reconfigurations in urban governance, the paper argues that water kiosks serve to reproduce the uneven power relations embedded in the process of neoliberal urbanization.

How ‘smart’ are we with smart technology: comparison of water ATMs in Nairobi and Delhi

“…WATM initiatives have been called 'pop-up infrastructure' (Schmidt 2020) and 'new forms of decentralized, neighborhood solutions' (Sarkar & Choudhary 2020) that uses 'smart technology' (Sarkar 2019a(Sarkar , 2019b, with the aid of 'financial engineering' and 'automated management' of urban space (Kitchin & Dodge 2011). It is being pushed as a new tool of neo-liberalization planning (Sarkar & Choudhury 2020) and comes with a set of installation and uptake challenges (Narayanaswami 2018;Sarkar 2019aSarkar , 2019b.…”

“…The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) claimed that 'ATMs are essentially a way of privatizing water supply' (The Hindu 2018). Charging for water, even at the subsidized prices offered by WATMs, is also criticized as a form of commodification by scholars in India (Sarkar & Choudhary 2020), but this is not a view held in Africa.…”

Assessing the functionality of a water-vending kiosk network with high-frequency instrumentation in Freetown, Sierra Leone

“…Additionally, produced water may not be free of microbial or chemical contamination resulting in a Drinking Water Service Ladder classification for water kiosks as high as “basic plus” and as low as “unimproved”. Furthermore, many water kiosk networks fall short on their intended water service provision goals [18] , [19] , [20] , [11] , [21] , often due to unsustainable service models or unreliable or insufficient water supply. Water kiosks have been studied across many operating contexts, monitoring activities are often limited to project goals and typically do not include meaningful and externally relevant stored water modeling to inform future activities.…”