Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Many funtions like infrastructure and resource management in Latin America are governed by the state, but lately there seems to be a shift in governance in favor for private actors. One example where this is seen is in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador where a privatization of the water market has take...

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Autor principal: Biro, Josephine
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2018
Materias:
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author Biro, Josephine
author_browse Biro, Josephine
author_facet Biro, Josephine
author_sort Biro, Josephine
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Many funtions like infrastructure and resource management in Latin America are governed by the state, but lately there seems to be a shift in governance in favor for private actors. One example where this is seen is in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador where a privatization of the water market has taken place by the signing of a 30 year long concession contract between the state owned authority EMAPAG-EP, La Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Guayaquil - Empresa Pública, and the private company Interagua. The shift in management has brought profit interests into the local water market, and has contributed to increase the control and power for Interagua, where the same has decreased for the state. In addition, it is possible to see a stronger influence of neo-liberal governmentality in the water market today than before due to this shift. Even though Interagua has improved the water situation in Guayaquil there are still remaining problems. This makes it difficult for individual households to obtain updated information about the quality of the tap water and to trust the authorities and their information. Therefore, the households have to use their own knowledge and draw from their previous understanding of the water problems as well as develop different strategies to reassure that they can obtain potable water. This opens up space for private sellers of water purification systems to operate, make profit and reinforce the old perceptions regarding unpotable tap water. The sellers‟ arguments and information of why someone needs a purification system is not regulated and highly questionable. This thesis explores how selected households perceive their water situation, and how their knowledge and understanding of it can be connected to the private sellers‟ business and the overall shift in governance between EMAPAG-EP and Interagua.
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spelling RepoSLU138022020-05-20T11:28:01Z Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador Biro, Josephine Tap water privatization concession contract governmentality water strategy Guayaquil Ecuador Many funtions like infrastructure and resource management in Latin America are governed by the state, but lately there seems to be a shift in governance in favor for private actors. One example where this is seen is in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador where a privatization of the water market has taken place by the signing of a 30 year long concession contract between the state owned authority EMAPAG-EP, La Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Guayaquil - Empresa Pública, and the private company Interagua. The shift in management has brought profit interests into the local water market, and has contributed to increase the control and power for Interagua, where the same has decreased for the state. In addition, it is possible to see a stronger influence of neo-liberal governmentality in the water market today than before due to this shift. Even though Interagua has improved the water situation in Guayaquil there are still remaining problems. This makes it difficult for individual households to obtain updated information about the quality of the tap water and to trust the authorities and their information. Therefore, the households have to use their own knowledge and draw from their previous understanding of the water problems as well as develop different strategies to reassure that they can obtain potable water. This opens up space for private sellers of water purification systems to operate, make profit and reinforce the old perceptions regarding unpotable tap water. The sellers‟ arguments and information of why someone needs a purification system is not regulated and highly questionable. This thesis explores how selected households perceive their water situation, and how their knowledge and understanding of it can be connected to the private sellers‟ business and the overall shift in governance between EMAPAG-EP and Interagua. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2018 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/13802/
spellingShingle Tap water
privatization
concession contract
governmentality
water strategy
Guayaquil
Ecuador
Biro, Josephine
Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title_full Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title_fullStr Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title_full_unstemmed Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title_short Drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in Guayaquil, Ecuador
title_sort drops of knowledge : a case study of the private water market in guayaquil, ecuador
topic Tap water
privatization
concession contract
governmentality
water strategy
Guayaquil
Ecuador