Water supply to the urban poor : governance approaches and challenges of situated informalities

Abstract

Water supply to the urban poor is one of the biggest challenges of urban governance in developing countries. With the unpredictable and uncontrollable process of the urbanization of poverty, the situation of water scarcity has also been rapidly deteriorating. There is evidence of initiatives for water supply to the urban poor, but they are temporary and insufficient to meet their actual needs. Drawing on this problem, this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of water supply systems in the slum of Dhaka city. First, it explores the types of water provisions available for the urban poor. Second, it investigates the actors, processes and challenges of informal and formal water supply provisions in the slum. In particular, it aims to examine the relationship between water provisions and local situated informalities in which the poor are embedded. It argues that despite the mission of participatory governance in development, which has experienced success in different cities and countries, there are still many old and new developmental challenges to overcome. Therefore, this research intends to examine the socio-spatial embeddedness of the poor as they attempt to access water services, and seeks to sketch the local informal constraints constituting the problems of water governance for the urban poor in Dhaka. This research employs a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis. Data has been collected from both the secondary and primary sources. Secondary sources include libraries, official records of government and non-government organizations and the internet. The primary data was collected through participatory observation, interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys. Based on a case study of Karail slum in Dhaka, the research finds that only a small portion (18%) of the urban poor has access to a formal water supply. A majority of them still depend on the informal/illegal water supply provision. The analysis of informal water supply shows that the informal water service in Karail was a revolutionary idea of the poor. The case study finds that there are several factors that help this informality to be sustained. The first factor is the location of Karail in Dhaka, and the availability of transport and communication facilities that protect Karail from eviction threats. 'Vote banks' of Karail were found to be an important factor that entangles the residents with local veteran political leaders. In addition, the consumer provider relationship is exceptional, and transcends beyond the merely commercial relations among them. The finding also includes some challenges of informal water provision such as the temporariness of the water supply, competition among the providers, continuous threats of inspection and financial problems. The research also examines the processes and challenges of formal water supply in Karail. Particularly, community participation in water supply for the urban poor was investigated. The findings suggest that there are several limitations that challenge the success of participatory water governance as provided by community-based organization. The challenges or difficulties of running a community organization include (i) group politics, (ii) convincing water consumers, (iii) illegal water connections, (iv) pressure from the informal water providers and (v) intervention of local party-politics. In addition, the research finds that dependence on external experts and donations, and multiple agencies for similar service distribution are two major government-centred challenges. Indeed, there are some problems created by the government itself, including the absence of proper decentralization processes, the incompetence of leadership and the politicization of local government. The research finds that understanding situated informalities of the urban informal settlements is imperative for successful implementation of participatory urban governance. It further suggests recognizing the heterogeneity of the informal communities, as well as the dynamics and everyday tactics employed by the urban poor in pursuing their livelihood which are locally situated, rather than externally imposed, and created not only by the lack of formal structural processes, but also through a self-sustained survival mechanism in which the urban poor are embedded. While there are informal and illegal opportunities of services in Karail, the process of a formal community-based governance of only a single utility service (like water) might be contested by locally situated socioeconomic, political and spatial factors. In addition, the formal-informal dichotomy might be a false division while the formal water system still accepts many informal practices, and this dualistic thinking only serves to benefit the already powerful actors in the informal community. Therefore, this research argues that a better understanding of the situated informalities of an urban slum community in the process of making 'sustainable urban development' and an 'inclusive city', is inevitable for the successful implementation of participatory governance approaches.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English