The marketization of water: environmental movements’ narratives and common experiences on water transfer projects in Colorado and western Iran

ABSTRACT

This comparative study explores how environmental movements in two different political economies, the US state of Colorado and western Iran, have experienced and framed water transfer projects as a mechanism for the marketization of water. It applies Polanyi’s and Harvey’s theories, using interviews with diverse social groups and various secondary data sources. The results show that, according to both social movements, water’s marketization has some similarities in terms of the commodification and commercialization of water. Still, different processes, means and mechanisms are used. The article highlights these similarities and differences by looking at the state’s role in two different contexts: a capitalist democracy (the United States) and a capitalist centralized statist system (Iran). The study finds that while some outcomes might be the same in Colorado and Iran for achieving the marketization of water, the means that the state/market uses to achieve those ends are different.

KEYWORDS:

• Marketization of water
• political economy
• hydrosocial territories
• water governance
• Colorado
• Iran

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Peggy Petrzelka and Dr Christy Glass at Utah State University and Reagan Waskom at the Colorado Water Institute. The author also thanks all participants in this study, especially the Iranian participants who respected and trusted the author's request despite the political pressure and time zone difference.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In this study, the capitalist democracy emphasizes a kind of capitalism that relies on civil society. On the other hand, the centralist state is a kind of capitalism in which executive and legislative power are concentrated centrally at a higher level.

2. 300,000 acre-feet/year.

3. 110,000 acre-feet/year.

4. See https://www.fcgov.com/poudrereportcard

5. 40,000 acre-feet.

6. A public agency created in 1937 to contract with the federal government to build some water projects and provide water to Northeastern Colorado.

7. See http://www.savethepoudre.org

8. The Karun is the biggest river in Iran.

9. Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging and voice-over IP service. It works just like popular messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Telegram has this opportunity for people to have a page or channels, which are a tool for broadcasting messages to large audiences because they can have an unlimited number of subscribers.

10. See https://t.me/sedayepayeab1

11. See https://t.me/joinchat/BJp9FD-q3gPT9wbdw3A49A

12. See https://t.me/faryadekaroon

13. See https://t.me/jolgeh_jonoobi

14. This network seeks to coordinate all environmental organizations in Khuzestan and raise awareness of environmental activists; http://enngo.ir/post/tag/%D8%B4%D8%A8%DA%A9%D9%87+%D9%85%D8%AD%DB%8C%D8%B7+%D8%B2%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AA+%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86

15. This issue indicates the different conditions in Iran for gathering data.

16. See https://www.northernwater.org/NISP/about

17. This study uses ‘common water’ rather than ‘public water’ because ‘public’ often refers to human society. In contrast, ‘common’ includes both humans and nature, which has been emphasized by both opponents in two cases.

18. In 2023, it has increased to about US$2 billion in the Northern Integrated Supply Project site.

19. See https://www.northernwater.org/NISP/about/FAQs

20. Other documents show more figures.

Additional information

Funding

This research enjoyed small grants from the School for Graduate Studies at Utah State University and the Mountain West Center.