Drinking water access in Bangalore through the framework of human rights: a PhD dissertation

This PhD dissertation by Jenny T Gronwall for Linkoping University's Tema Institute looks at issues of drinking water access in Bangalore through the framework of human rights, analyzing three interlinked dimensions: the right to water as a human right; water in terms of property rights; and water rights. 

The notion of rights, while often referred to in the general water management debate, seems to allude to various rights simultaneously. A multitude of dimensions exist, where the human right to water is to be distinguished from ‘water rights’ and property rights in water resources. To provide a background for the analysis, questions relating to how rights and the instrument of law matter and are understood in practice are pertinent.

Therefore, the research included a study of a specific geographical location to find out both how access is realised in the rural, peri-urban and urban contexts and how it is affected by urbanisation and similar processes. This empirical part of the study focuses on the situation in Bangalore in southern India, a metropolis that is subject to change and transformation and suffers from water scarcity.

The study probes the following -

• What different meanings are assigned to the notion of ‘rights’ in law in general, and in discourses on water management?
• Is there a (human or other) right to access to water? How are the corresponding obligations formulated and fulfilled?
• ‘Whose’ is the water in the language of law and how is this issue regulated and discussed?
• How can the notion of ‘water rights’ be understood?
• Where there are different kinds of rights in relation to water, do they converge or oppose each other? 

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