Water Brokers: Exploring Urban Water Governance through the Practices of Tanker Water Supply in Accra

Abstract

Accra, the capital city of Ghana, is characterized by limited networked supply, heterogeneous water providers, and various forms of provision. In this paper, we explore how the people delivering water through water tankers shape the distribution of water across the city. Drawing on empirical descriptions of water sourcing and distribution by truck drivers, we show that who gets what water at what price is shaped by the ability of tanker drivers to act as brokers, piecing together various social and material arrangements and resorting to different rationalities and expertise. We analyze how state actors deal with tanker supply seeking to reconcile their mandates with the realities of water supply. Analyzing urban water supply through the practices of water distribution, we show the messy and open-ended character of water governance processes. A practice-based approach makes the complex interrelations between different water providers across the city visible, and underscores the role of individual and collective identities, emotions, moral norms, and unequal interdependencies between actors in shaping urban water distributions.

Changing Hydrosocial Cycles in Periurban India

“…Collective systems such as Water Users Associations are affected by unequal power relations creating unequal ownership and participation making most participants nothing more than 'paying customers' [83]. Informal water suppliers and markets are expensive, provide uncertain quality, have poor financial, hydrotechnological, and organizational capacities, and significantly require mobilization of social capital for access by households [84][85][86]. Thus, benefits of the market accrue to well-of communities only [19,29,87].…”

First-Class but not for Long: Heterogeneous Infrastructure and Water Bricolage in Accra’s Kiosk Compounds

“…The material design of the housing arrangements partly reflects the temporary character of the kiosk compounds as the relatively small size and low weight of kiosk structures allow inhabitants to relocate relatively easily (Iddriss, 2016). For instance, while researching tanker water supply in Accra (Alba et al, 2019), we several times witnessed tanker drivers using their trucks to move kiosks from one place to another by loading the metal and wood structures on to the backs of the trucks.…”

Conflicts, cooperation and experimentation: Analysing the politics of urban water through Accra’s heterogeneous water supply infrastructure

“…To discourage illegal practices meters were not installed in these WFP configurations; WFP operators pay a monthly consumption rate of 500 m 3 (GWCL district staff 1, 2015, interview; Bulk water vendor, 2015, interview). While the GWCL regulates the price of water sold at WFPs, it leaves the operators of privately run WFPs some room for manoeuvre in setting different tariffs for tankers and for those buying by the bucket, or giving water away free-of-charge to some customers (Alba et al, 2019). For instance, Daniel decided to give water for free to one of his neighbours, an aged man unable to work, while young people who can work had to pay 0.10 GHS for a small bucket of water (10-15 L) or 0.40 GHS for a 'Kufuor gallon ' (15-20 L).…”

“…Yet, they remain relatively unexplored in analyses of Accra's uneven waterscape and -unlike for public standpipes, sachet water and water kiosks (Morinville and Harris, 2014;Stoler et al, 2012a) -they seem not to be considered significant in analyses of city-level outcomes. And yet, WFPs are significant in terms of the volume of water circulated (compared to sachet), and the percentage of residents reliant on them: WFPs provide pipe water in bulk quantities to more than 500 tanker drivers that in turn deliver to more than 17% of the city's population (Alba et al, 2019).…”