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Paper short abstract:

The study question conceptions of water in/security and the hazy definitions of resilience practices in developing sustainable water services, especially in moments of crisis. I explore bottom-up community resilience across diverse contexts, as well as mapping water governance innovations.

Paper long abstract:

With regional temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, states have engaged in megaprojects designed to improve water security in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, such as investing in new water technologies for irrigation (Egypt), desalination (Saudi Arabia), and cloud seeding (UAE). Yet, while adopted technologies and state-led development struggle to catch up with the lack, and in some cases abundance, of water, urban communities have developed their own methods of resilience and sustainable access to water, especially in times of crisis like the COVID 19 Pandemic. Across marginalized communities, water governance has operated as part of regimes of self-built networks in urban milieus; where water flow is constructed through grassroots efforts, social capital, and heterogeneous configurations of socio-technical relations. Despite the centralization and in some cases corporatization of water governance in the region, communities lie at the crux of daily negotiations of water supply, maintenance, and quality. My study explores how communities come together (or compete) to create networks of sustainable and localized efforts that work to guarantee access, supply, and repair of natural resources and the impact of crisis. Since the pandemic and under International Monetary Fund conditionalities, the Egyptian state has steadily removing water and energy subsidies, leading communities to depend on self-help networks to provide basic needs. I employ qualitative research methods across neighborhoods to study grassroots resilience practices to analyze pathways for development and scaling in a post-pandemic environment.