Hardback
Tapping the Oceans
Seawater Desalination and the Political Ecology of Water
9781788113809 Edward Elgar Publishing
Increasingly, water-stressed cities are looking to the oceans to fix unreliable, contested and over-burdened water supply systems. Desalination technologies are, however, also becoming the focus of intense political disagreements about the sustainable and just provision of urban water. Through a series of cutting-edge case studies and multi-subject approaches, this book explores the political and ecological debates facing water desalination on a broad geographical scale.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
Tapping the Oceans provides a detailed analysis of the political and ecological debates facing water desalination in the twenty-first century.
Water supplies for cities around the world are undergoing profound geographical, technological and political transformations. Increasingly, water-stressed cities are looking to the oceans to fix unreliable, contested and over-burdened water supply systems. Yet the use of emerging desalination technologies is accompanied by intense debates on their economic cost, governance, environmental impact and poses wider questions for the sustainable and just provision of urban water. Through a series of cutting-edge case studies and multi-subject approaches, this book explores the perspectives, disputes and politics surrounding water desalination on a broad geographical scale.
As the first book of its kind, this unique work will appeal to those researching water and infrastructure issues in the fields of political ecology, geography, environmental science and sustainability. Industry and water managers who wish to understand the political debates around desalination technology more fully will also find this an informative read.
Water supplies for cities around the world are undergoing profound geographical, technological and political transformations. Increasingly, water-stressed cities are looking to the oceans to fix unreliable, contested and over-burdened water supply systems. Yet the use of emerging desalination technologies is accompanied by intense debates on their economic cost, governance, environmental impact and poses wider questions for the sustainable and just provision of urban water. Through a series of cutting-edge case studies and multi-subject approaches, this book explores the perspectives, disputes and politics surrounding water desalination on a broad geographical scale.
As the first book of its kind, this unique work will appeal to those researching water and infrastructure issues in the fields of political ecology, geography, environmental science and sustainability. Industry and water managers who wish to understand the political debates around desalination technology more fully will also find this an informative read.
Critical Acclaim
‘This is a timely and insightful introduction to the entanglements of water, salt, power, and capital in the emergence of seawater desalination as a major feature – and maybe a future game changer – of the 21st-century water agenda.. . . desalination is breaking into our water future, and this book will be a key primer for those interested in deciphering its emergence.’
– François Molle, Water Alternatives
‘This very timely book provides an excellent and insightful introduction to the entanglements of water, salt, power, and capital in the emergence of an alleged environmentally friendly and cornucopian solution to increasing water scarcity. It helps decipher how desalination is fast becoming the last frontier of capital accumulation for both the water industry and financiers, and how it reconfigures existing socio-ecologies in profound and subtle ways.’
– François Molle, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France
– François Molle, Water Alternatives
‘This very timely book provides an excellent and insightful introduction to the entanglements of water, salt, power, and capital in the emergence of an alleged environmentally friendly and cornucopian solution to increasing water scarcity. It helps decipher how desalination is fast becoming the last frontier of capital accumulation for both the water industry and financiers, and how it reconfigures existing socio-ecologies in profound and subtle ways.’
– François Molle, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France
Contributors
Contributors: E. Feitelson, M. Fragkou, S. Gorostiza, A. Loftus, H. March, J. McEvoy, D. Pavón Gamero, D. Saurἰ, A. Scheba, S. Scheba, E. Swyngedouw, M. Usher, J. Williams
Contents
Contents:
1. Mobilising the oceans to quench our thirst
Joe Williams and Erik Swyngedouw
2. Wet dreams with a grain of salt: Desalination in Spain''s water policy
David Saurἰ, Santiago Gorostiza and David Pavón
3. Water Governance and Desalination in Baja California Sur, Mexico
Jamie McEvoy
4. On the Implications of Seawater Desalination: Some Insights from the Israeli Case
Eran Feitelson
5. Disclosing water inequalities at the household level under desalination water provision; the case of Antofagasta, Chile
Maria Christina Fragkou
6. Desalination as emergency fix: Tracing the drought–desalination assemblage in South Africa
Suraya Scheba and Andreas Scheba
7. Worlding via water: Desalination, cluster development and the ‘stickiness’ of commodities
Mark Usher
8. Financialising desalination in London: The Thames Desalination Plant (TWDP)
Alex Loftus and Hug March
9. Commodifying the Pacific Ocean: Desalination and the neoliberalisation of water in Southern California
Joe Williams
10. Politicizing the salt of the seas
Erik Swyngedouw and Joe Williams
Index
1. Mobilising the oceans to quench our thirst
Joe Williams and Erik Swyngedouw
2. Wet dreams with a grain of salt: Desalination in Spain''s water policy
David Saurἰ, Santiago Gorostiza and David Pavón
3. Water Governance and Desalination in Baja California Sur, Mexico
Jamie McEvoy
4. On the Implications of Seawater Desalination: Some Insights from the Israeli Case
Eran Feitelson
5. Disclosing water inequalities at the household level under desalination water provision; the case of Antofagasta, Chile
Maria Christina Fragkou
6. Desalination as emergency fix: Tracing the drought–desalination assemblage in South Africa
Suraya Scheba and Andreas Scheba
7. Worlding via water: Desalination, cluster development and the ‘stickiness’ of commodities
Mark Usher
8. Financialising desalination in London: The Thames Desalination Plant (TWDP)
Alex Loftus and Hug March
9. Commodifying the Pacific Ocean: Desalination and the neoliberalisation of water in Southern California
Joe Williams
10. Politicizing the salt of the seas
Erik Swyngedouw and Joe Williams
Index
