Water Imaginaries of Care, Collectivity and Contextuality in Migrant Households' Stories of Adaptation to Water Scarcity

Abstract

Climate change is leading to changing water availability and is likely to impact systems of supply and associated practices in the Global North. As a way of contending with these possibilities, this paper shows how migrant households from water-scarce countries offer insights into specific practices, such as water reuse, minimising water waste and bucket-bathing in the context of reduced water availability, alongside reflexivity on hydrosocial (water–society) relations. Using stories, a novel medium for geographical work, to relay insights from participants' experiences, this work draws on a set of 16 household interviews in England to offer three imaginaries of sustainable water futures. Imaginaries are how we envisage the world and potential future worlds and are a valuable tool in contemplating futures under changing socioecological conditions. Three imaginaries of care, collectivity and contextuality in water use are unpacked through the practices and hydrosocial relations described in household stories. These imaginaries connect the stories with the broader analysis uncovered in the dataset. We provide directions for water planning to contend with the potential for water scarcity through the implications of our findings. We pose questions around the visibility of water systems inside and outside the home, and whether social connectedness to water (or not) at the societal scale exists and how this might influence more or less sustainable use. We additionally probe into the potential for malleability in resource-intensive water practices such as bathing. This work discusses how the influences of the life course, as well as family and personal histories, are vital to understanding water use. It further demonstrates that imaginaries can be expressed through the use of stories. Moreover, we demonstrate how migrant households' stories of adaptation to water scarcity are able to stimulate reflection on issues of water use, everyday practice and sustainable water futures.