Urban Political Ecology in Megacities: The Case of Delhi’s Waste Water

Abstract

Megacities in Asia face tremendous environmental challenges. One of these is the drainage and treatment of waste water—a problem which ironically grows when access to water supply and water-borne toilets improves, leading to increasing per capita water consumption as well as water pollution. In Delhi, the overall waste water problem is huge with an estimated 1,800 million litres per day being disposed of without treatment in the Yamuna river. However, the various residential areas differ greatly in the magnitude of related problems they face. This inequality leads to a situation where mostly informal settlements have to bear the brunt of exposure to waste water. Against this background, this chapter investigates which waste water-related services informal settlements receive, who is providing them, and how residents struggle on a daily basis to obtain them. The case discussed here is of an informal residential area, or JJ cluster, in West Delhi. To study the presented problematic the approach of Urban Political Ecology (UPE) is introduced. This approach looks at environmental problems in their relationships with social, political as well as economic dynamics and processes. In the last years, UPE has started opening up to a more thorough investigation of the role of everyday practices in the production of uneven urban environments. Looking into the day to day interactions of residents with different state actors in the attempt to solve waste water-related problems allows furthering this avenue. By doing so, the chapter aims to contribute to a better understanding of how unequal urban environments are produced in today’s megacities.