Public Water and Covid-19 Dark Clouds and Silver Linings

Publication date:

Covid-19 has once again demonstrated the significance of safe, accessible and affordable water for all. It has also highlighted enormous disparities in service provision while at the same time dealing a blow to public water and sanitation operators around the world due to massive drops in revenues, rapidly rising costs and concerns about health and safety in the workplace. This book provides the first global overview of the response of public water operators to this crisis, shining a light on the complex challenges they face and how they have responded in different contexts. It looks specifically at ‘public’ water and asks how public ownership and public management have enabled (or not) equitable and democratic emergency services, and how these Covid-19 experiences could contribute to expanded and sustainable forms of public water services in the future.

About public water and covid-19

Publication type
Book
ISBN/ISSN
E-Book: 978-1-55339-666-6

Public Water and Covid-19: Dark Clouds and Silver Linings

Download the complete book here.


Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Public Water Matters

David A. McDonald, Susan Spronk and Daniel Chavez



Chapter 2: Covid-19 and Structural Inequalities: Class, Gender, Race and Water Justice

Susan Spronk



Chapter 3: Are We All in This Together? Covid-19 and the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

Alex Loftus and Farhana Sultana



Chapter 4: Reinventing Public Water amid Covid-19 in Terrassa

Mar Satorras, David Saurí and Hug March



Chapter 5: Water Shutoff Moratoria in the United States: The Role of Cities and States

Mildred E. Warner, Marcela González Rivas, Mary Grant and Xue Zhang



Chapter 6: Community-Based Water Provision in Colombia in Times Of Covid-19

Denisse Roca-Servat, María Botero Mesa and Sara Correa Zuluaga



Chapter 7: A Beacon of Hope at a Time of Crisis? Pursuit of Affordable Public Water in Baltimore

Mary Grant



Chapter 8: Covid-19, Water and the State in Uruguay: Dark Clouds Over a Successful Model of Public Services Delivery

Daniel Chavez, Pablo Messina and Martín Sanguinetti



Chapter 9: Transnational Solidarity: European Public Water Operators Working Across Borders to Address Covid-19

Milo Fiasconaro and Jovana Gojkovic



Chapter 10: Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs): Public Utility Knowledge Exchange and Solidarity in Response to Crisis

Craig Laird and Elisa Bernal



Chapter 11: Defending Public Water in Times Of Crisis: “Popular Water Government” in Caracas, Venezuela

Rebecca J. McMillan



Chapter 12: A Double-Edged Sword? Covid-19 and Water Remunicipalization in Jakarta

Marwa Marwa



Chapter 13: An Opportunity to Pause and Reimagine: Jamaica’s Public Water After Covid-19

Beverley Mullings



Chapter 14: An Insider’s Perspective: HAMBURG WASSER’s Response to Covid-19

Christopher Herzog, Arnd Wendland and Claudia Wendland



Chapter 15: Covid-19 And The Hope for Democratic Water Ownership In Ghana

Leonard Shang-Quartey



Chapter 16: A Democracy Stress Test: Eau De Paris and The Covid-19 Crisis

Anne Le Strat



Chapter 17: Nigeria’s Informal Water Providers: Filling in The Public Gaps

Susan Agada



Chapter 18: A Tale of Two Water Operators: Legacies of Public Versus Private Amidst Covid-19 in Pittsburgh

Marcela González Rivas



Chapter 19: The Long Road Out of Crisis: (Re)building Trust in Flint’s Public Water from Poisoning to Pandemic

Benjamin J. Pauli



Chapter 20: Full Cost Recovery Meets Crisis: Guaranteeing Access to Water Under Covid-19 In Colombia

Jeimy Alejandra Arias Castaño and Kathryn Furlong



Chapter 21: Cape Town’s Crisis-Ridden Response to Covid-19

Greg Ruiters



Chapter 22: Sober Second Thoughts: Covid-19 and Water Privatization in Canada

Robert Ramsay



Chapter 23: The Paradox Of Free Urban Water: Burkina Faso’s Fight Against Covid-19

Catherine Baron and Léandre Guigma



Chapter 24: Adaptability, Community and Solidarity: Public water operators in France during Covid-19

France Eau Publique



Chapter 25: “The People Won't Give up, Damn it!”: Reclaiming Public Water in Buenaventura, Colombia

Tatiana Acevedo Guerrero



Chapter 26: The Success of Public Water in Battling Covid-19 In Finland

Petri S. Juuti and Riikka P. Rajala



Chapter 27: Blue Communities in Quebec: Upholding The Highest Water Standards in Uncertain Times

Isabelle Delainey



Chapter 28: Ability to Pay Versus Right to Water: Commercial Imperatives and Social-public Alternatives in Medellin, Colombia

Denisse Roca-Servat and Erika Meneses