Abstract
In 2010, the UN recognized the right to clean water for drinking and sanitation as a human right. Yet, water injustices persist. Climate change, depletion of groundwater, and the migration to mega-cities without an adequate infrastructure have contributed to the inequities. While most scholars agree that water injustices exist and acknowledge those most affected are vulnerable, marginalized communities, disagreement persists as to the solution. Some scholars favor more reliance on a global, neo-liberal approach where market-based norms will facilitate an efficient distribution of water resources. In contrast are those favoring more local control over water resources, integrating traditional ecological knowledge. Adding to these discussions is the work of indigenous groups such as the Mayan, seeking compensation for the massacre and displacement they suffered when the Chixoy Dam was constructed.
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Notes
- 1.
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- 3.
Melissa Denchak, “Flint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know,” (NRDC, November 8, 2018); UNU-IAS, “Overview of Jakarta Water-Related Challenges” 4 (April 2015) at https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:2872/WUI_WP4.pdf; Josh Harkinson, “Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined,” Mother Jones, 9 August 2016; Will Ross, “Lake Chad: Can the Vanishing Lake be Saved?” BBC News, 31 March 2018.
- 4.
Richard White, The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River, (Hill and Wang, 1995): Chris de Wet, “Displacement and Migration: Comparing China and India,” Economic & Political Weekly, Mumbai, India (February 2, 2019).
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“The Great Climate Migration Has Begun,” The New York Times Magazine (23 July 2020); Maude Barlow, Maude Barlow, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water (The New Press, 2009, rpt. 2019).
- 6.
For a detailed discussion of Peru’s Ica Valley, visit the website of Swedwatch at https://swedwatch.org/publication/companies-react-swedwatch-report-water/.
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Margreet Zwarteveen, “Hydrocracies, Engineers and Power: Questioning Masculinities in Water,” Engineering Studies: Engineering Masculinities in Water Governance 9:2 (2017), 78–94.
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Pietz, D.A., Zeisler-Vralsted, D. (2021). Water and Equity. In: Water and Human Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67692-6_5
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