BACKGROUND

Lack of access to clean water supply is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, and this is an increasingly acute problem for residents of rapidly growing, large cities. An estimated one billion people around the world lack access to sufficient supplies of clean water, and an increasing proportion of those live in cities – particularly large, rapidly growing ‘mega-cities’ of the South.

Access to water supply is frequently influenced by factors such as race, class, gender – with implications for equity and service standards. Many variables may influence the differentiation of access to modes of urban water provision (networks, wells, water vendors) in the context of decentralization and informalization of the urban economy; understanding these variables is necessary if we are to design better water supply governance models for the urban poor.

Over the past two decades, an increasing number of international financial institutions and bilateral aid agencies have advocated private sector involvement in water supply management as a means of addressing water supply problems in large cities - a controversial topic. Many large cities in developing countries now have ‘private sector participation’ contracts, operating alongside an informal network of private water vendors supplying water to those without access to the network. The performance of these private operators, and ethics of their involvement in water supply, is the subject of much debate.

RESEARCH

This research project analyzes socio-cultural and socio-economic dimensions of changing patterns of water governance in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia, focusing on two issues.

Water governance in the colonial city: Archival research into the hydraulic history of Jakarta’s water supply system examines the colonial origins of Jakarta’s water supply systems; with particular emphasis on the socio-cultural and socio-economic relations underlying the early differentiation of service standards between race and class, and historical parallels to current policies of decentralization and liberalization of public service provision. Documenting the growth of the network from its colonial origins to the present, we demonstrate that inequitable access was ‘hard-wired’ into the network from its origins, and is not a recent phenomenon. Water governance in the contemporary city: Field research in Jakarta during 2004 and 2005 will focus on how relations between the region’s progressive socio-economic restructuring (1950’s-2003), changing political regimes, and socio-cultural construction of an ‘urban Indonesian’ identity, influence changing patterns of urban water governance. Particular emphasis will be placed on the involvement of private sector actors (formal and informal) in water supply. We are analyzing the performance of the private sector, focusing on access (connection rates, pricing) and accountability (transparency, participatory mechanisms).

FUNDING

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ~ $120,000
(awarded 2003)

PUBLICATIONS