Towards A Situated Urban Political Ecology Analysis of Packaged Drinking Water Supply

Abstract

The inclusion of packaged drinking water (PDW) as a potentially improved source of safe drinking water under Goal 6.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) reflects its growing significance in cities where piped water has never been universal or safe for drinking. Using the case of PDW in Jakarta, Indonesia, we call for theorizing the politics of PDW through a situated Urban Political Ecology (UPE) analysis of the wider urban water distributions in which it is inserted. We do so in order to interrogate the unevenness of individual "choices" for securing safe drinking water, and highlight the ambiguity of PDW's impact on inequalities in access. We first review research on PDW supply to specify how dominant theoretical approaches used for understanding PDW supply through analyses of the individual making "choices" for drinking water are power neutral, and why this matters for achieving equitable water access. We illustrate these points through a case study of PDW consumption by low income residents in Jakarta, and then identify how a situated UPE framework can help attend to the uneven societal relations shaping different socio-material conditions, within which individual "choices" for PDW are made. For Jakarta, connecting choices of the individual to power relations shaping geographies of urban water access and risk explains the rise in PDW consumption by low income residents as a situated response to the uneven exposure of poorer residents to environmental hazards. We conclude with reflections on how this can inform interventions towards more just distributions of safe drinking water.

Groundwater as a Source of Drinking Water in Southeast Asia and the Pacific: A Multi-Country Review of Current Reliance and Resource Concerns

“…For WASH sector professionals, particularly at the national level, there is a need to collate information about the groundwater resource implications of packaged water given its status as a growing source of drinking water [27] including in countries reviewed in this study (particularly in Lao PDR, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam). While studies have explored the public health implications of packaged drinking water [91], its classification within global monitoring standards [27], and equity and power dynamics [92], sustainability implications have received only limited attention and focused on plastic waste [93,94] rather than on the relevant water resources. In this study, when compiling figures on groundwater use, packaged water was typically the most difficult form of use to identify and quantify.…”

Re-Theorizing Politics in Water Governance

“…Here, an explicit analysis of the politics of water access and associated production processes (e.g., bottled water) reveals the ways that regulatory gaps enable exploitation by the bottled water industry [60]. In a second article, Kooy and Walter [61] re-theorize the politics of packaged drinking water (PDW) in Jakarta (Indonesia) using a "situated Urban Political Ecology" (UPE) analysis of the wider urban water distributions in which it is inserted. These authors interrogate the unevenness of individual "choices" for securing safe drinking water and highlight the ambiguity of PDW's impact on water access and associated insecurities.…”

“…These authors interrogate the unevenness of individual "choices" for securing safe drinking water and highlight the ambiguity of PDW's impact on water access and associated insecurities. Here, packaged water must be situated and understood in relation to broader circuits, water flows, and uneven water insecurities [61]. To do so invites us to ask and answer critical questions: What leads certain households (and communities) to rely on packaged water, and how do such situations emerge in relation to other widespread considerations consistent with a UPE approach, including governance failure, service gaps, and similar concerns [61]?…”

“…Here, packaged water must be situated and understood in relation to broader circuits, water flows, and uneven water insecurities [61]. To do so invites us to ask and answer critical questions: What leads certain households (and communities) to rely on packaged water, and how do such situations emerge in relation to other widespread considerations consistent with a UPE approach, including governance failure, service gaps, and similar concerns [61]? Indeed, these are exactly the kinds of questions that are not commonly emphasized in work on packaged water where the focus remains on the individual, and on ideas of choice and preference [60,61].…”

Everyday Practices, Everyday Water: From Foucault to Rivera-Cusicanqui (with a Few Stops in between)

“…Both are relevant for thinking about water. While Lefebvre's approach could be helpful in relation to bottled water consumption in wealthy countries where potable water is readily accessible, marketing plays a strong role in developing the associated "need-desire", and the emerging habit of bottled water consumption affects wider society through new industries, regulations and waste [61], a pragmatic approach may be useful in thinking about the increasing importance of different forms of packaged water that are spreading across cities where potable water supply is limited and state services may be viewed with greater suspicion [62,63].…”