Mobilising for water: hydro-politics of rainwater harvesting in Chennai

Abstract

In 2003-04, as the Indian city of Chennai faced an unprecedented water crisis, a debate ensued about finding longer-term sustainable solutions, ranging from expensive desalination plants to modest rainwater harvesting schemes. The latter was enforced by an authoritative state and promoted enthusiastically by environmentalists to raise awareness about the city's much destroyed hydrological ecosystem. In contrast to the state's interpretation reducing it to a compulsory hydraulic installation in individual buildings, environmental NGOs made a concerted effort to develop a more comprehensive intervention in the wider public domain. However, as a dizzying array of socio-political actors came together, concerns emerged about the ability of such a mobilisation to generate a uniform material understanding of rainwater harvesting as a common moral goal. Examining in detail one specific case study of a communityled effort-Puduvellam, this paper looks at how, as a grassroots organisation involved in the restoration of a prominent temple tank in southern Chennai, it rallied support amongst the local (mainly middle class) residents to create a new topology of ecological consciousness. Its success however was only partial and highlights the futility of romanticising rainwater harvesting as an indigenous alternative. More importantly and ironically, its ineffectiveness was enhanced by the crisis itself as it triggered a process of privatisation and commodification of water, with rainwater harvesting eventually being absorbed by the agenda of 'bourgeois environmentalism'.

Leveraging Chennai’s Complex Governance Network for Addressing the City’s Water Woes

“…These agencies remain critical of attempts at creating world-class cities at the expense of the marginalised. For instance, they interpret eco-restoration projects as ‘sites of enormous human tragedy’ due to the exclusion and disruption of livelihoods that these projects cause (Arabindoo, 2011; Coelho, 2018, p. 24). In addition to this contentious collective vision, the fact that non-government/civic agencies collaborate as technical knowledge partners with the government further strains their relations.…”

Diverse pathways—common phenomena: comparing transitions of urban rainwater harvesting systems in Stockholm, Berlin and Barcelona

“…These phases, however, should not be understood in terms of linear pathways towards system change. Rainwater management is a terrain permeated by societal power and political contestation and can be captured by particular interests (Arabindoo 2011;Button 2017;Cousins 2017). STS transition is, therefore, often messy and can lead to different pathways of reconfiguration, stagnation and coexistence, as well as system change (Bos and Brown 2012;Dolata 2009;Furlong 2014;van der Brugge, Rotmans, and Loorbach 2005).…”

Political Ecologies of Water Capture in an Indian ‘Smart City’

“…This means that there is significant scope to look at them anew with an anthropological lens attuned to how urban catchments can fit within the complex hydraulic landscapes of contemporary cities. This includes the effort to critically evaluate whether or not projects of infrastructural revival lead to improved water access for a range of residents (Arabindoo 2011).…”

“…Indeed, more work is needed to understand how urban water bodies act as 'composite resource(s)' with overlapping and complex power dynamics (Cornea et al: 407). These efforts can help to interrogate how measures to improve urban water stewardship are entangled with institutional practices perpetuating water conflict and inequity (Arabindoo 2011;Bakker 2012;Johnston 2003;Kaika 2005;Robbins 2004;Swyngedouw 2004Swyngedouw , 2009, which is also a central concern in the political ecology of water.…”