Abstract
Water is power. It drives industry. Its delivery to people wins elections, enhances authority and builds legitimacy. Historically, humans settled around water—at the mouths of rivers; in mid-stream; around lakes, springs and wetlands—moving to the resource. Over time, however, we have managed to reverse this flow, so much so that water no longer runs along its hydraulic gradient; rather, it flows toward money, people and power. Humanity’s impact on the natural environment has been so dramatic that we are now said to inhabit the era of the Anthropocene. Nowhere is this impact more clearly demonstrated than in the world’s megacities. This chapter briefly reviews water in development, with a particular focus on cities, surveys systems of delivery, highlighting the politics underlying much of the (in)action in relation to particularly household water and sanitation, presents data for several cities facing ‘day zero’ scenarios, examines lessons learned and reflects on the necessary steps to be taken in order to develop the ‘political will’ necessary to act in support of urban water security.
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Swatuk, L., Cash, C. (2022). Avoiding ‘Day Zero’: Challenges and Opportunities for Securing Water for Megacities. In: Swatuk, L., Cash, C. (eds) The Political Economy of Urban Water Security under Climate Change . International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08108-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08108-8_1
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