São Paulo’s 2013 water crisis: a socially constructed disaster risk

Frequent cases of water scarcity in Brazil reveal a water governance and administration crisis. During the water crisis (2013-2016), the São Paulo Metropolitan Region experienced a disaster scenario. This article analyses how it was constituted as a socially constructed disaster episode. A case study was carried out in the Novo Recreio neighbourhood (Guarulhos, SP) through ethnographic observations, interviews, and newspaper articles. The results were analysed based on the Pressure and Release Model (PAR). It was concluded that the water crisis period in SPMR has disproportionately affected the Guarulhos population, especially in Novo Recreio. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that public policies and the neighbourhood's territorial formation are related to its population's current frail living conditions and increased socio-environmental vulnerability in the face of continuous water scarcity, thus corroborating the social construction of the risk of water scarcity.

Between Confrontation and Cooperation: Right to Water Advocacy in the Courts, on the Streets, and at the Capitols in the United States

Communities across the United States face a widespread water crisis including risks of contamination, rate increases, shut-offs for non-payment, and dilapidating infrastructure. Against this background, a right to water movement has emerged which has found its strength in coalition-building and collectivity. Activists demand change using the framing of “water is a human right”, socially constructing the right to water from below. Based on more than 25 semi-structured interviews with water advocates and activists, our article explores how movement participants used the human rights framework to advocate for clean and affordable water for all. We used political opportunity theory and conceptions of government “openness” and “closedness” to examine when and how advocates decided to use confrontational and cooperative approaches. We identified a push and pull of different strategies in three key spaces: in the courts, on the streets, and at the Capitols. Advocates used adversarial approaches including protests and civil disobedience, reliance on human rights mechanisms, and to a more limited extent litigation simultaneously with cooperative approaches such as engaging with legislators and the development of concrete proposals and plans for ensuring water affordability. This adaptiveness, persistence, and ability to identify opportunities likely explains the movement’s initial successes in addressing the water crisis.

Learning from Flint: How Matter Imposes Itself in the Anthropocene and What That Means for Education

In this chapter, we explore one aspect of the Anthropocene, the vital, vibrant connections between life and matter (Whatmore, Cultural Geographies 13(4):600–609, 2006.). Drawing on the effectivity of water as a solution and the “Flint water crisis,” we explore how humans tend not to notice matter unless it brings an effect upon them. Our approach follows Melinda Benson, (Natural Resources Journal 59:251–280, 2019) in seeking to decenter human exceptionalism and explore the chemical and biological actors relationally engaged in a system with humans engendering phenomena that are unpredictable as we demonstrate in a case study of the City of Flint and its access to drinking water for humans. As this case highlights, often matter only becomes noticed when it establishes an ontological disturbance forcing itself on human experience and becoming noticed in the process. Important elements of such “noticing” are tied up with the human-material intra-actions engendering phenomena that is shaped by race and geographic history. Rather than constructing Flint and other examples as emergencies or crises that need to be solved, education should explore the dynamic nature of these events and the intra-actions of all elements. This approach offers one strategy for transforming what K–12 science education looks like for both developing scientists and everyday citizens.

Financialization of Water: Conceptual Analysis of the California Water Crisis

Water is a rapidly shrinking commodity. As we continue to use water for industry, farming, and sustaining our own lives, we must realize its intrinsic value. In December of 2020, water was given a new value as a future on a commodities market. This paper aims to discuss the practical, ethical, and financial considerations of trading water in this manner. A thorough conceptual analysis of the literature and research from 2009 to 2020 related to commodities and their history was performed, and a more contemporary review of water policy and pricing. The goal is to develop a mixed solution that gives value to water without allowing it to be exploited to the detriment of the poor; water must be accessible and affordable if it is to be managed ethically. Approaching water as a high-value resource might create a market that makes it unobtainable for most of us; however, with a system that controls pricing, creates standards, and simultaneously works to increase the supply of water, we may be able to create a “market.” Our critique of the research and available solutions indicates rising water prices and mostly regressive policies. As a result, market controls need to be implemented to control pricing while ensuring water availability for all.