Water Security in Urban Water Governance: A Case Study of Dhulikhel Municipality, Kavrepalanchowk, Nepal

Abstract

This paper locates the issue of water security within the larger discourse of Environmental Justice which has become more encompassing and broader in scope, forms and processes penetrating the issues of political, economic and cultural distribution of resources. The concept of urban governance and water security is inextricably tied as the need of improved water services historically grew with the expansion of cities calling for critical governance arrangements. In light of the above, this paper examines the existing state of water security in Dhulikhel. By examining the power relations between ‘fringe’ and the ‘core’ areas, the paper depicts the growing inequity across the 9 wards of Dhulikhel pertaining to water access and distribution based on caste, class, ethnicity and gender. Two fundamental questions that guide this paper are: 1) Why disparities exist between the core and fringe categories in Dhulikhel Municipality? 2) How does the core-fringe category shape the power of communities in the water governance? The findings clearly show that there is a huge discrimination between the core and the fringe, the poor and the non-poor within the core in water availability, distribution and decision making. Establishing an equitable water justice system calls for uprooting the existing social discrimination in water security to empower the fringe communities.