The peri-urban water poor: citizens or consumers?

Abstract

Using the results of a comparative three-year research project in five metropolitan areas, this article reviews a range of practices in accessing water and sanitation by peri-urban poor residents and producers. It starts from the observation that neither centralized supply policies nor the market through, for example, large-scale profit-making enterprises are able to meet their needs. Although they are consumers insofar as they have no option but to pay market prices for water (and often for sanitation), the peri-urban poor are, in practice, sometimes regarded as citizens with basic entitlements such as the right to water. This article outlines a conceptual distinction between “policy-driven” and “needs-driven” practices in the access to peri-urban water and sanitation services. The case studies show that this access is mainly needs-driven and informal rather than the result of formal policies. The key to structural improvements in water and sanitation lies in the recognition of these practices and their articulation to the formal system under new governance regimes.

Self-supply and accountability: to govern or not to govern groundwater for the (peri-) urban poor in Accra, Ghana

“…The conventional urban-rural divide has since long given way to include also a third type of landscape: the peri-urban area, a transitional zone between the city and its hinterland (Rauws and de Roo 2011). However, as shown by Allen et al (2006), peri-urban dwellers-in particular the poor-are often left to their own devices when it comes to realizing their human rights to water and sanitation because their needs, practices and private solutions remain "invisible" to the public sector.…”

Non-communicable diseases in Indian slums: re-framing the Social Determinants of Health

“…Hence, sanitation, access to clean water, and its sustainability are India’s one of the most urgent concerns. The comparative case study of five cities by Allen et al [26] showed that the inadequacy of public policies and private initiatives to combat the lack of clean water results in higher water prices for the peri-urban poor, which encourages them to use alternate means to access water. Anand’s study [27] in the slums of Mumbai expanded this notion, stating that slum dwellers’ access to water depends on complex cultural, political and empirical factors.…”

Policy Transformations and Translations: Lessons for Sustainable Water Management in Peri-Urban Delhi, India

“…the recognition of non-conventional practices and their articulation to the formal system under new governance regimes (Allen et al, 2006). In the absence of appropriate support, many informal strategies, such as the use of wastewater for irrigation, also carry with them significant avoidable risks to health and wellbeing alongside the obvious benefits (Bradford et al, 2003, page 157;Singh et al, 2010).…”

“…As such, peri-urban areas occupy "unique space, in that they are simultaneously sustained and imperiled by the dynamics of the urban economy" (Friedberg, 2001, page 353). As a concept, peri-urban can be seen as instances where rural and urban features co-exist, in environmental, socio-economic and institutional terms (Allen et al, 2006). In whatever way the peri-urban is defined, questions about the implications of current development trajectories for the health and livelihoods of affected communities are pertinent.…”

“…Over the past one and half decades there has been a growing body of literature looking at the conflicts and contradictions of the peri-urban through the lens of changing land use patterns, contesting governance structure, lack of service provisions and so on (Allen et al, 2006;Arabindoo, 2005;Narain and Nischal, 2007;Cadène, 2005;Kennedy, 2007;Baud and Dhanalakshmi, 2007). There are now important insights into the shortfalls in existing service provision and recognition of informal practices, but much less attention has been given to the processes by which alternatives might be established and supported.…”