Whose land? Whose water? Water rights, equity and justice in a peri-urban context

Based on research in peri-urban areas, this paper explores questions of water justice in the context of emerging global cities. With the growth of large cities, authorities focus on meeting their water needs through infrastructure expansion and supply augmentation. The changing water needs and priorities of peri-urban locations, which provide land and water for urban expansion, receive scant attention. This paper looks at changing patterns of water use between rural and urban uses, based on research in peri-urban Gurgaon, an emerging outsourcing and recreation hub of North West India. It describes the diversity of ways in which peri-urban residents lose access to water as the city expands. These processes raise important questions about water justice, about the politics of urban expansion, and the implicit biases about whom these cities are meant for.