The political ecology of water access in urbanizing towns in Nepalese Himalaya

Himalayas with their snowfields, glaciers and perennial rivers are considered to be the largest reservoir of freshwater on the planet. However, access to drinking water has now become an everyday challenge to the people living in the Himalaya region because of the rapid urbanization and growing socioeconomic and environmental changes. Urban water scarcity is acute particularly in Nepal, as towns are growing rapidly while water supply systems are failing to deliver the water needs of rapidly urbanizing communities and the growing economy. As water scarcity is becoming an everyday negotiated reality for households with access characterized and differentiated through socio-economic, geographic and political relations, the local political dynamics to determine who gets water and who does not has further intensified. In this context, this study explores the evolving dynamics of water - society relations particularly focusing on how water access is shaped by the different power relations and how power and authorities are exercised to reshape access to water. Using the political ecology lens, this study investigates the access and control over resources drawing attentions towards unequal power relations that determines who benefits and who suffers from particular processes of socio-environmental change.