Beyond the (non)piped drinking water regimes: complex configurations of conflicts and cooperation

Abstract

Historically, water utilities have favored the modern ideal of piped infrastructure despite shortcomings in ensuring water access to the urban poor. Consequently, various state and non-state actors play influential roles in shaping water access to the poor through piped and non-piped socio-technical regimes of water provision. However, the existence of piped and non-piped water regimes and how they interact is often not seen as the work of municipalities, and as a result, a plethora of vital water services and actors are still largely ignored in water policy and decision-making. Drawing upon two empirical case studies in Delhi and Nairobi, this article foregrounds the role of conflict and cooperation in the interaction between piped and non-piped water regimes using an analytical framework that builds on Science Technology Studies and Urban Political Ecology.