Informal privatisation of community taps: issues of access and equity

Abstract

On the basis of a detailed case study this paper questions the equity of centralised piped drinking water supply systems installed by the government of Nepal in rural areas. The study shows how processes of socio-technical interaction and change alter the physical water supply infrastructure of the installed public water supply system, simultaneously altering patterns of access to taps and water. The analysis suggests that this happens through a process of “informal privatisation”, with community taps becoming appropriated by individuals over time, cutting off some families from their access to community tap water while reinforcing the water security of others. This process is deeply shaped by prevailing relations of power and cultural difference along axes of gender, caste and wealth.

Keywords:

• drinking water
• water governance
• privatisation
• decentralisation
• Nepal
• gender

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the research grant received from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Science for Global Development) (NWO/WOTRO), The Netherlands.

Notes

1. Tharu is an ethnic minority living primarily in the southern plain of Nepal. There are various Tharu clans, of which the Chaudhari clan is living in eastern Nepal (Guneratne 2002).

2. A water users' association (WUA) is a local organisation of water users to manage, for instance, an irrigation system or, as in this paper, a drinking water system. WUAs were formed as per the 1992 Water Resource Act of Nepal.

3. Exchanges rates of the Nepalese Rupee to the US$ were 58 NR in 2000, 76 NR in 2005. Current rate (November 2013) is around 100 NR to 1 US$.

4. The caste classification was broadly based on relative ritual purity according to the classical Hindu caste system, in which population was ranked into four Varnas (caste groups): Brahmana (priests), Chhetri (kings and warriors), Vaisya (traders and businessmen) and Sudra (peasants and labourers) – with an additional group technically “outside” the caste system because of ritually defiling occupations which make them “untouchable” for the other groups (Bennett et al. 2008, p. 1).