Intersectional Water Insecurity of Farmers on the Delhi Floodplains

Climate change, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, species extinction—all of these issues point to one thing: environmental health is a global issue that concerns all nations of the world. Now add environmental justice to the list. From South Bronx to Soweto, from Penang to El Paso, communities all over the world are finding commonality in their experiences and goals in seeking environmental justice. Environmental justice was defined by Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, in his seminal 1990 work Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality as “the principle that all people and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and regulations.” In countries around the world, the concept of environmental justice can apply to communities where those at a perceived disadvantage—whether due to their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, immigration status, lack of land ownership, geographic isolation, formal education, occupational characteristics, political power, gender, or other characteristics—puts them at disproportionate risk for being exposed to environmental hazards. At a global scale, environmental justice can also be applied to scenarios such as industrialized countries exporting their wastes to developing nations. In either case, “environmental and human rights have no boundaries, because pollution has no boundaries,” says Heeten Kalan, senior program officer of the Global Environmental Health and Justice Fund of the New World Foundation in New York City. “Environmental justice organizations are starting to understand that they are working in a global context.”

In recent years, emerging scholarship has advanced embodied approaches to urban water in/security, inequality and infrastructure. This new literature is broadly informed by political ecology studies of water, which critique depoliticized approaches to water scarcity, insecurity and inequality and give attention to the socially differentiated experiences of the urban waterscape. Recent interventions to bring feminist and embodied approaches to water's urban political ecology analyze the site and scale of the body as critical for understanding everyday urban water access and inequality. Drawing from these frameworks, I summarize three contributions of an embodied urban political ecology approach for addressing water in/security. These include analytical approaches that give attention to (1) the scale of the body within multi‐scalar approaches to water, (2) intersectionality and gender/class/race/ethno‐religious relations in shaping patterns of water inequality and insecurity, and (3) everyday practices and politics, in relation to both governance and citizens, which reveal under‐theorized dimensions of water insecurity and inequality. Embodied approaches to urban water insecurity are poised to expand and deepen work on the everyday politics and lived experiences of insufficient, insecure, and unequal water that profoundly shape urban life for city‐dwellers.This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > Planning WaterHuman Water > Water GovernanceHuman Water > Rights to Water

ABSTRACTBoth social and environmental justice overlap with water (in)security, but neither fully captures the nuances. This review extends a water justice framework by critiquing and further developing an existing environmental justice framework. Testing a reformulated understanding of water security through a case study reveals added insights derived from inclusion of scale and power dynamics.

Water (in)security is central to achieving sustainable development in Arctic communities. To characterize the pervasive and place-based challenges faced by Arctic residents and communities, water insecurity can be examined across five dimensions (i.e., availability, accessibility, safety, reliability and preference). Based on an analysis of 61 studies, this narrative review synthesizes how the human dimensions of Arctic water insecurity have been measured in the scientific literature. This review serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers and practitioners when selecting measures of water insecurity based on past studies, and for addressing knowledge gaps through the development of new measures in partnership with Arctic and Indigenous communities. Faced with rapid climatic and societal change, enhanced human-centered measures of water insecurity in the Arctic will enable future research, policy, monitoring, management and stewardship. This is necessary to achieve the human right to water and Sustainable Development Goal of clean water and sanitation for all.

Water (in)security and American Indian health: social and environmental justice implications for policy, practice, and research

Water insecurity in 3 dimensions: An anthropological perspective on water and women's psychosocial distress in Ethiopia

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, we wanted to determine how the islanders viewed environmental organizations as part of an effort to understand the relationships between attitudes, institutions, and environmental and social justice issues. As a category 5 hurricane, Hurricane Maria was one of the strongest to hit Puerto Rico. Yet, the US mainstream media coverage of this and other environmental issues was lacking. From a total of 90 environmental organizations in Puerto Rico, we surveyed 19 that were active in the southwest of the island. We asked: (1) How do local people view environmental and social justice issues and (2) given their organizations’ efforts to deal with these issues, what are their successes? To address these questions, we developed a survey in English and Spanish and conducted personal and online interviews with 30 relevant individuals. Their most successful outcomes included: (1) educating and creating greater awareness of environmental issues; (2) introducing environmental changes into their communities; and (3) becoming and surviving as economically sustainable organizations. The results inform our understanding between environmental organizations and social and environmental justice in Puerto Rico and more broadly, because the organizations surveyed are at the center of fighting climate change and achieving environmental justice.

Latin America faces a severe health crisis, where over 150 million people lack reliable access to water due to climate change. We conducted a mixed-methods study to understand perspectives and experiences surrounding water security and its relationship to climate change among predominantly Indigenous mothers in Maras, a rural Andean district in the Urubamba Province of Peru. A verbal survey was administered to 100 pregnant women and/or caregivers of children under 11 years of age. Surveys included questions on demographics, water sources and storage practices, water and food insecurity, and perceptions of climate change. Among survey participants, a subgroup of 22 mothers took part in focus group interviews to understand their personal experiences and concerns regarding water insecurity and climate change. Most survey respondents (92%) experienced water insecurity. Qualitative findings revealed multiple facets of water insecurity including quantity, quality, and predictability of water. Water insecurity had negative impacts on household sanitation, hygiene, and agricultural production, and thus income generation and food security. Household- and community-level strategies to deal with water insecurity include: (i) revitalization of ancient practices to maintain natural water sources, (ii) water recycling, and (iii) reforestation. Findings in this study highlight the extent of water insecurity and the resulting challenges faced by Indigenous community members within Peru. By understanding the multifaceted experiences of these communities facing the crisis of water insecurity, we can explore solutions and advocate for proactive measures to help Indigenous populations address the growing threat of climate change.

As populations grow and climate patterns change, difficult trade-offs in water security must be made. Re-allocation of water resources and re-distribution of water security outcomes will inevitably raise questions of equity. Equity is a central component of water security but often underemphasised, hence we still lack nuanced insights to how equity is understood and operationalised by water managers and users. The concept of risk is increasingly used in water security policy and practise but has been weakly integrated with equity considerations. We offer a contextual study that explicitly unpacks risk and inequity in water security across multiple scales; we have analysed lived water experiences and their hydrosocial drivers in a major river basin in Ethiopia. This is based on 61 interviews from seven rural kebeles, government organisations at woreda, zonal, regional and federal level and local and international NGOs as well as 17 industrial water user surveys. With our findings, and drawing on existing studies, we offer a theoretical framework for embedding water risk in equitable water security considerations. We find that when water risk is (re-)oriented from a biophysical framing, towards one centred on water-related values, it can be suitably embedded within hydrosocial framings of water security. This approach offers unique insights into how inequities are understood, within uneven power and political dynamics, which is critical for interventions that seek to deliver more equitable water security and meet social development targets.

Research on household water insecurity continues to overemphasize water scarcity and rural contexts, resulting in a poorer understanding of water insecurity in urban, water-abundant settings. At the same time, while the dimensions of water insecurity include availability, access, utilization and stability, current instruments focus on access to water, thus, inadequately explore people's experiences utilizing available water. This study aimed to characterize and explore the impacts of household water insecurity on residents of the city of Belém, Pará, Brazil, where water is available and access to piped municipal water is common, but its provision and quality vary. We applied the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale (HWISE) to evaluate water insecurity in 188 households (110 LSES; 78 HSES). In a subset of 47 households, we complemented the HWISE with a novel instrument, developed via participant observation, that assessed all points of water access and use within the home. Per HWISE, 28% of households were water insecure, with a higher proportion of water insecurity occurring in LSES households. Data collected via our complementary instrument indicate that HWISE underestimated water insecurity in our sample, as 87% of the subset households reported issues affecting their utilization of water regardless of household water insecurity status.

Background: Access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) remains a pressing concern for vulnerable women in Bangladesh, particularly those residing in slums, rural regions, and indigenous communities. Objective: This study explores the link between WASH-related challenges and psychosocial stress experienced by women in three under-resourced communities in Chittagong: the Marma ethnic group in Taraboniya village, the Jhautola slum in Chittagong city, and the rural village of Kodurkhil, Chittagong. Methods: Employing a mixed-methods design, the study integrates structured surveys with 250 women, 15 focus group discussions, and on-site observations to examine disparities in water access, sanitation, menstrual hygiene management, and associated health impacts. Results: The results indicate substantial inequities in WASH access. Slum and indigenous communities face the most critical shortages due to inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding, and seasonal fluctuations in water availability. Women in these areas carry a disproportionate burden of WASH-related tasks, leading to physical fatigue and emotional distress. The lack of safe and private sanitation facilities contributes to widespread anxiety, fear, and social stigma - particularly around menstruation. Adolescent girls and pregnant women encounter additional obstacles, including limited access to sanitary products and hygienic disposal options. Conclusions: This study highlights the urgent need for WASH strategies that are not only gender-sensitive but also address both the structural and psychosocial dimensions of water and sanitation insecurity. By amplifying women’s lived experiences, the research offers actionable insights for more inclusive and equitable WASH policy development in Bangladesh.

“When you have no water, it means you have no peace”: A mixed-methods, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda

Water insecurity in a syndemic context: Understanding the psycho-emotional stress of water insecurity in Lesotho, Africa

This article discusses a variety of experiences and philosophical reflections on cultural loss under an environmental justice framework, wherein ‘environmental justice’ is broadly construed as the conceptual connections, causal relationships, and strong correlations that exist between environmental issues and social justice. Environmental justice frames social issues as environmental issues. Social and environmental issues are inseparable, co-causally related, and always in a context that requires a political interpretation; in particular, such a consideration of justice accounts for power dynamics and socio-environmental practices that maintain historical relations, as well as the remedies for injustices. The primary argument of this article is that the environmental justice framework is a proper theoretical and practical approach to understanding the cultural loss among indigenous peoples caused by climate change. It emphasizes restorative justice philosophies and procedures that can address the future consequences of cultural loss.

Approximately 50% of the global population currently experiences severe water scarcity, a situation likely to intensify due to climate change. At the same time, the poorest population segments bear the greatest burden of water insecurity. This intersection of geophysical, geochemical, and socio-economic dimensions of water (in)security challenges requires a geosocial perspective, one that attends simultaneously to geophysical, geochemical, and socio-economic dimensions. Our qualitative study, conducted through 68 semi-structured interviews across two distinct sub-basins in Kabul, revealed disparities in groundwater levels, water quality, water prices, and lived experiences of water insecurity. While environmental stressors like drought and groundwater contamination contribute to water insecurity, socio-economic factors such as gender and property ownership exacerbate these impacts: Women and children bear a heavy burden of securing water, with children’s involvement in water-fetching leading to instances of violence. Furthermore, trucked water costs 33 times that of piped water, echoing alarming global trends where less privileged communities endure disproportionately greater challenges of water inaccessibility. We outline policy implications for monitoring groundwater abstraction and underscore the need for tailored strategies to combat water scarcity, such as pro-poor water strategies. Additionally, our work draws attention to the role of local gatekeepers who have informally regulated water usage in response to drought-induced scarcity, particularly in the absence of functioning government policies, underscoring the importance of collaboration with local stakeholders to ensure sustainable access to water. We argue that a geosocial approach to water (in)security can provide high-resolution findings and reveal critical gaps between common metrics and the realities of water (in)security, which also underlines the need for integrated approaches incorporating both quantitative and qualitative research.