Emotionality in domestic water use in the global south: Who cares who is deprived of?

Abstract

While access to safe and reliable water for domestic purposes is the basic need of human beings, inequality in access to reliable water is a major challenge in Global South (GS). Drawing on sociology of emotion, this article aims to explore the struggles of low-income communities in water acquisition in Global South, focusing on a case study of New Delhi. Although a large body of literature has analyzed the emotional distress of local communities in access to drinking water in GS, the discourse of ‘why and who’ triggers such emotional distress in contemporary cities has largely remained unappreciated. It was argued that influential elites and high-income residents, who wield significant influence in decision-making processes concerning water supply system in major cities including New Delhi, contribute to the marginalization and exclusion of underprivileged communities, thereby fueling the emotional distress of the disenfranchised communities.