Karen Bakker

Neoliberalizing Nature? Market Environmentalism in Water Supply in England and Wales

Abstract The 1989 privatization of the water supply sector in England and Wales is a much-cited model of market environmentalism—the introduction of market institutions to natural resource management as a means of reconciling goals of efficiency and environmental conservation. Yet, more than a decade after privatization, the application of market mechanisms to water supply management is much more limited than had been expected. Drawing on recent geographical research on commodities, this article analyzes the reasons for this retrenchment of the market environmentalist project. I make three related claims: resource commodification is a contested, partial, and transient process; commodification is distinct from privatization; and fresh water is a particularly uncooperative commodity. To illustrate these claims, I explore how waters geography underpinned the failure of commodification initiatives in England and Wales. I focus specifically on contradictions faced by industry regulators, water companies, and the government when attempting to implement direct competition, universal metering, and full-cost pricing of water supply. The failure to resolve these contradictions was a critical driver in the reregulation of the water supply industry and in the overall trend toward improvement in environmental and drinking water quality, a finding that underpins my closing argument—that neoliberalization is implicated in processes of reregulation that rescript the entitlements of both humans and nonhumans, with outcomes that are not necessarily negative for what we conventionally delimit as the environment.

The limits of ‘neoliberal natures’: Debating green neoliberalism

This paper presents a meta-analysis of recent critiques of geographical scholarship on ‘neoliberal natures’. The analysis juxtaposes distinct (and at times divergent) conceptualizations of neoliberalism — as political doctrine, as economic project, as regulatory practice, or as process of governmentalization — and also of nature — as primary commodity, as resource, as ecosystem service, or as socio-natural assemblage. Strategies for developing a more systematic account of the variegation of neoliberal natures are discussed, with the goal of provoking scholars of neoliberal natures to reflect upon their core conceptual and methodological commitments, while contributing to broader debates over neoliberalism and the ‘nature of nature’.

Water Security: Research Challenges and Opportunities

New strategies for analyzing water security have the potential to improve coordination and generate synergies between researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. An estimated 80% of the worlds population faces a high-level water security or water-related biodiversity risk (1). The issue of water security—defined as an acceptable level of water-related risks to humans and ecosystems, coupled with the availability of water of sufficient quantity and quality to support livelihoods, national security, human health, and ecosystem services (2, 3)—is thus receiving considerable attention. To date, however, the majority of academic research on water security is relatively poorly integrated with the needs of policy-makers and practitioners; hence, substantial changes to funding, education, research frameworks, and academic incentive structures are required if researchers are to be enabled to make more substantive contributions to addressing the global water crisis.

From state to market?: water mercantilización in Spain

Many governments have recently initiated a process of water sector mercantilización—the introduction of markets or market-simulating decisionmaking techniques, and the participation of private companies and private capital in water management. This paper presents a case study of the mercantilización of water resources in Spain. State-led development of water resources was a key element of Spains modernisation drive in the mid-20th century, intended to redress not only the high degree of temporal and spatial variation in water availability, but also to underpin the agricultural colonisation of the countrys arid interior. Water-resources development, pricing, and allocation remained, with few exceptions, the preserve of the state. In 1999 the government reformed the national Water Law, introducing both water markets and water banks; this in addition to earlier reforms enabling the participation of private companies and private capital in water-resources development. The case study, situating the evolution of water policy within an analysis of key macro political – economic trends (in particular, Spains transition to democracy and EU-mandated economic convergence) and the countrys contested hydropolitics, is employed as a means of elaborating a more general political ecological – economic understanding of the mercantilización of water.

Transgressing Scales: Water Governance Across the Canada–U.S. Borderland

This article examines the rescaling of transboundary water governance along the Canada–U.S. border. We draw on recent research in geography on rescaling and borderlands to query two assumptions prevalent in the water governance literature: that a shift in scale downward to the subnational or “local” scale implies greater empowerment for local actors, and that rescaling implies that higher orders of government become less important in water management. The case study presents an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from a comprehensive database of transboundary water governance instruments compiled by the authors, interviews with water managers on both sides of the border, and participant observation in transboundary water governance activities. Our analysis indicates that although a significant increase in local water governance activities has occurred since the 1980s, this has not resulted in a significant increase in decision-making power at the local scale, nor has it been accompanied by a “hollowing out” of the nation-state. This suggests the need to question some of the assumptions widespread in the water management literature, such as the putative primacy of the local scale, and highlights the utility of bringing current geographical debates over scale and borderlands to bear on questions of environmental governance.

Paying for water: water pricing and equity in England and Wales

Over the past three decades, the business of water supply in England and Wales has been gradually transforming from the supply of a service to citizens, to the sale of a commodity to customers. The paper provides a genealogy of concepts of efficiency and equity in water regulation over the past thirty years, prior to evaluating the implications for water consumers of one aspect of this process – the shift away from policies prioritizing inter- and intra-regional equalization (implying a principle of social equity) towards policies prioritizing economic efficiency (implying a principle of economic equity) in water charging. In closing, alternatives to the current arrangements for domestic consumers are proposed.

A Political Ecology of Water Privatization

Private-sector participation in the financing, construction and management of water supply infrastructure has increased significantly over the past decade. In GECD countries, this trend has been particularly evident in the United States, England and Wales. In Canada, several municipalities-including Goderich, Halifax, Hamilton-Wentworth, and Moncton-have initiated a variety of projects (such as management contracts or outsourcing of water treatment plants) with the private sector.

From public to private to ... mutual? Restructuring water supply governance in England and Wales

Abstract A little over a decade after privatization, the water supply industry in England and Wales is undergoing a period of restructuring; many water companies have withdrawn from equity markets, some have separated asset ownership from operation and maintenance, and others have made proposals to return water supply infrastructure to public control through ‘mutuals’ or ‘customer corporations’. This paper situates the restructuring of the water industry within broader debates over ‘associative self-governance’ taking place in Britain. Underpinned by a conceptual framework drawing on insights from regulation theory, in which governance models are enacted through regulatory practice, the interrelationship between restructuring and re-regulation of the water supply industry is analyzed. The paper argues that the failure of the post-privatization regulatory model to contain the contradictions between stable returns and the efficiency imperative, on the one hand, and politically acceptable rates of return and the equity imperative, on the other, led to a re-regulation of the water supply industry, which was a key factor in restructuring. Restructuring has entailed multiple strategies (diversification, internationalization, vertical de-integration, mutualization, securitization), which are briefly analyzed. In contrast to analyses which depict restructuring as a ‘retreat of the market’, the analysis presented in this paper emphasizes the continuity of the commercial governance model applied in the water supply industry in 1989. In interpreting restructuring as an industry response to re-regulation of services provision, the paper interrogates the incentive structure underpinning current proposals for a ‘mutual’ future for public services in Britain.

Privatizing Water, Producing Scarcity: The Yorkshire Drought of 1995*

Abstract The Yorkshire drought of 1995 was the most extreme climate event faced by the English and Welsh water industry since its privatization in 1989. As an emblem of crisis in privatized water management, and as a potential signal of climate change, the 1995 drought has motivated change in water regulation and management. In this paper I challenge conventional interpretations of the 1995 water supply crisis as a natural hazard or as a result of managerial ineptitude. Drought is conceptualized as the production of scarcity, an outcome of three interrelated practices: meteorological modeling, demand forecasting, and corporate restructuring and the regulatory “game.” These practices are situated within an analysis of the context of the regulatory implications of the privatization of the water industry in 1989. I explore the simultaneously natural, social, and discursive elements of water scarcity and situate them within an analysis of privatization as reregulation, rather than deregulation. This analysis brings insights developed in debates over “real” regulation and regulation theory to bear on nature-society analysis, while extending this debate through theorizing regulation as, in part, a discursive practice. The ensuing rereading of drought challenges conventional interpretations of environmental crisis, raises questions about the implications of water industry privatization, and emphasizes the need to account for the role of the state and the intricacies of “real” regulation in analyses of resource management.

Water Governance in Canada: Innovation and Fragmentation

This paper explores Canadas approach to water governance. It argues that fragmented governance has had negative impacts on Canadas ability to manage water resources adequately (particularly in the context of urbanization, agriculture and resource extraction), and to deal with new issues (such as climate change). Further, it argues that Canadas highly decentralized approach to water governance creates challenges of integration, coordination and data availability. The paper explores possible future strategies for innovations in water governance that may have the potential to improve water management outcomes.