Paper short abstract:

Canal boaters in England & Wales rely on water and sanitation services to enable healthy, fulfilled and expansive lives. People adapt around restricted services, a facet of life as water dwellers, but in some cases this impinges on human rights and damages individual and community wellbeing.

Paper long abstract:

Water and sanitation services on the waterways vary in quantity, reliability and accessibility throughout the national network. How canal boaters themselves interact with facilities and boat technologies is dependant on their individual agency, as well as on these external factors. Lived experiences reveal that different boaters do not receive equal benefit from the same service, creating misunderstandings in boater perceptions of one another and of navigation authorities. Inconsistent services are producing concern around public health, community relations and, for some, the ability to continue living on board. Responsibility is murky, as within the privatised water industry in England & Wales canal boaters are not considered water company customers. Therefore, their reliance and point of contact is with navigation authorities who have no legal obligation to provide a certain level of acceptable service. This leads to frustration and heightens other conflict occurring between boaters and authorities. Overall, wellbeing and equity are restricted on the waterways both due to the direct impact of water and sanitation on people's lives and the emotional distress and tension that is created in response. Social anthropological insights from this research can contribute towards the design of more equitable services and, in extension, a more 'well' society.