The Affects of Water—The Materialized Morality of Wells, Pipes, and Pumps in Tarawa, Kiribati

ABSTRACT

Drawing on fieldwork among development practitioners and villagers on Tarawa, in the Pacific Island nation Kiribati, I examine sociomaterial enactments of water from three different technologies: the well, the pipe, and the pump. I show how water technologies are embedded in moral worlds by exploring the affective relationship between people and water. In an island nation where freshwater resources are scarce, contaminated, and a significant political and social concern, I demonstrate that people still struggle with and contest the moral dimensions of water technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• land tenure
• morality
• Pacific region
• vandalism
• water technologies

Acknowledgments

I thank the team members of the Waterworlds Research Centre, especially my supervisor, associate professor Cecilie Rubow, and our team leader professor, Kirsten Hastrup.

Notes

¹µS/cm refers to electrical conductivity measured in microsiemens per centimeter.

²Standards informed development practitioners’ relationship with water. “Water budgets” described the water the government could distribute, and “sustainable yields” the water that could be extracted from the ground without harming the environment.

³The Gilbert, the Phoenix, and the Line Islands make up Kiribati.

⁴Tarawa Water Master Plan 2010–2030.

⁵The government does not regulate rainwater harvesting. Rainwater is considered bonus water because its amount is uncertain and not easily managed by the government.