This doctoral dissertation project considers small water enterprises (SWE) and the role that these play in formal and informal urban water governance in growing cities. SWEs provide important services to millions of urban poor, but their existence may perpetuate and reinforce socio-economic inequalities. This project will investigate this tension by examining the factors that condition SWE entry into urban water markets, how and where SWEs provide services, and the ways in which SWEs relate to and overlap with formal water delivery systems, policies, and reforms. Research to date suggests that economic liberalization measures in cities reduce the quality of life for residents, particularly the urban poor, because of scaled back social supports. As a result NGOs, the private sector, and informal activities play a greater role in the provision of social services. This, however, can reinforce socio-economic disparities as informal activities are often precarious and NGO and private sector activities inadequately incorporate the voices and participation of urban residents. Urban water utilities and systems are one of many sectors that experienced significant reforms in the form of greater private sector participation in the past twenty years, yet such reforms are rarely problem-free because past water policies were often politically charged. These reforms tend to reinforce socio-economic inequalities as new management logics emphasize profitability and demand management within the water utility at the expensive of social equity. This project will build on analyses of privatization and commercialization of urban water systems by drawing from research in urban political economy on the rise of informal, private, and NGO services, in order to systematically analyze the roles and effects of SWEs. The research integrates geographic information science (GIS), survey analysis, and ethnography, to systematically assess the spatial dynamics of access and distribution of water, the role of SWEs in urban water governance, and the relationship between SWEs and formal water governance by considering the case of Amman, Jordan.
Results of this research will be of interest to scientists and policymakers in places where there is an intensification of water scarcity issues. The concerns addressed in this case have the potential to provide critical insights that may guide planning and development elsewhere in the Middle East and also in other water scarce areas, such as the US southwest. This study will shed light on how SWEs might improve water distribution and access and the way in which they may provide to relief overburdened water utilities without reinforcing social inequalities. Findings will be shared with community members, academics, and policy makers at regional and national conferences, workshops, and through various academic and popular publications. As a Doctoral Research Improvement award, this project will also provide support for a promising graduate student to establish an independent research career.
Project Objectives and Summarized Findings The project initially proposed the following three objectives. Synthesized findings are noted after each objective: 1) Understand how small water enterprises mediate the accessibility of water in Amman and the implications for socio-economic inequalities It was determined that small water enterprises do not mediate the accessibility of water in Amman at any significant scale. Most small water enterprises in the capital city deliver water to restaurants and hotels with negligent impact on household experiences. 2) Understand how the multi-scalar reforms within the water sector re-shape state/society relationships vis-a-vis the water sector The crux of the dissertation research focused on this objective. The objective was analyzed in two ways. First, it examined the scalar dynamics of water sector reforms between state institutions. In particular, the research focused on the dynamics of reform between the Mnistry of Water and Irrigation, the Water Authority of Jordan, and Jordan Water Company - Miyahuna. Second, the research examined how these dynamics shaped government approaches to municipal water distribution, including perceptions of demand supply crises, and other factors affecting the water sector. 3) Understand how households across geographies and socio-economic status experience and perceive the reforms in addition to the factors that mediate their access to and use of water, including small water enterprises The project was completed with an examination of households that vary by geography, socio-economic status, and citizenship status (refugee vs non-refugee) experienced and perceived reforms over the last ten years. Households were also asked about their use of water and conservation practices in addition to modes of access. Project Outcomes and Elaborated Findings 1) It was found that shifts in water governance (supply management to demand management) are not as clear as often portrayed in literature. The case of Jordan suggests that ongoing crises of management, water supply, and rising demand produced continued necessity for international assistance. These aid programs, in turn, facilitated the creation of the water sector institutions that struggle to cope with and respond to ongoing humanitarian crises (e.g. refugees from Palestine, Iraq, and Syria) and water supply crises since the late 1940s. Morevoer, it was through reforms, particular the conditions placed on lending agreements, that facilitated new management crises as new reforms merely reconfigured rather than transformed management concerns in the water sector. 2) Households have by and large perceived vast improvements in urban water management in Amman, though significant distrust remains. Households have accepted that water scarcity is a fact and that conservation is needed, and indeed practice and accommodate rationed water distribution. Household access and use, it was found, is largely mediated by other factors, such as geography (elevation), capacity to store water (which correlates to class), tenure and family size. Families rarely rely on small water enterprises (usually one time per every few years) due to the high cost and ability to wait until water is redistributed. These findings, which are affirmed with GIS analysis, suggest that water distribution and access in "neoliberalized" water sectors do not always produce or accentuate inequalities strictly along socio-economic lines. 3) The framing of the water crisis is particularly essential to understanding the dynamics of reform. Corporate restructuring of the water sector is advocated by the narrow framing of water scarcity and rising demand. Yet, content and policy analysis of the documents reveal direct neglect of political dynamics, including history of regime building and security over water - which played a key role in the creation of the Water Authority of Jordan and the Jordan Valley Authority as parallel agencies - and the continued prioritization of Amman in national water policy. They also neglect the important role that the Minister plays over the direction of water policy, over-personalization in water management, and limited and frustrated communication between water sector institutions.
