The Water Diaries
Living with the Global Water Crisis in Bangladesh and Kenya
Published on 13. February 2025
Book
Hardback
148 pages
978-1-009-29958-9 (ISBN)
Description
Cyclones, flash floods, droughts, and pollution batter the aspirations of people living at the sharp end of water insecurity. By charting the daily water use behaviour of people in Kenya and Bangladesh for a year, this book explores the intersecting drivers of global water risks and the spatial and seasonal inequalities. Comprising a clear methodological chapter and four detailed case studies of both urban and rural areas, it critically reviews existing policy and institutional design, arguing for a new architecture in allocating risks and responsibilities fairly and effectively between government, communities, enterprises, and water users. In identifying the risks and potential responses for policy and investment action, it provides theoretical insights and a practical guide to developing more effective policy in Kenya and Bangladesh, with solutions that will be applicable in other regions facing similar challenges. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
450 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-29958-9 (9781009299589)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Sonia Hoque is a Bangladesh-born environmental social scientist, with eight years of postdoctoral research on water security and poverty under the FCDO-funded REACH Programme at the University of Oxford. She has worked in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Kenya, focusing on the inequalities in household and individual experiences of water risks related to rural and urban drinking water services and river pollution by the global fashion industry. Rob Hope is Professor of Water Policy at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He directed the REACH programme that has improved water security for over 10 million vulnerable people. He co-founded Uptime in 2018 which has issued results-based contracts to guarantee reliable drinking water for over 5 million rural people in 17 countries in 2024. He has published over 100 academic papers, served as an adviser to governments, UNICEF, UK FCDO, USAID, World Bank, and UK Research and Innovation. His research has featured in the Economist, the BBC, and global media.
Content
Table of contents; List of figure; List of acronyms; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Fashionable rivers: social inequalities and pollution in Dhaka; 3. Chronicles from the coast: public and private responses to water risks in Khulna; 4. Watering white elephants: rainfall revenue dynamics for rural water services in Kitui; 5. Small town in Arid Lands: unreliable piped water services and flash floods in Lodwar; 6. Conclusion; References; Index.