A City in a Water Crisis: the Responses of the People of Gaborone
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Lincoln University Digital Thesis Copyright Statement The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). This thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: you will use the copy only for the purposes of research or private study you will recognise the author's right to be identified as the author of the thesis and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate you will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from the thesis. A city in a water crisis: the responses of the people of Gaborone A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science (Environmental Management) at Lincoln University by Arabang Tshepiso Kadibadiba Lincoln University 2017 Abstract Worldwide, countries are challenged by the increasing pressure on potable water resources. In Botswana these pressures are particularly severe. Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, is faced with a water crisis. There are no nearby permanent water sources to supply the city and successive years of drought led to extreme water shortages in Gaborone in 2015. This study investigates how the government has responded to the developing water shortage over the last decades and how the water use and management practices of the people changed in response to this water crisis. Social practice theory is applied as an analytical theoretical framework with a focus on the elements of practices and the norms of consumption (three Cs of cleanliness, comfort and convenience) reveal how and why consumption takes place. It is shown that the co-evolution of water supply infrastructure and customer demand creates imperatives and expectations that water is always available and ready to be used. It is also concluded that practices of water use are shaped around the concepts of cleanliness, comfort and convenience and that when water was very scarce, practices evolved so that acceptable social standards could still be maintained. The study shows that although people’s practices changed, there were limits to their adaptability in the context of the supply and demand paradigm that dominates water infrastructure across the world. This study illustrates that social practice theory’s conventions of comfort, cleanliness and convenience (the 3Cs) needs to be extended to survival to adequately capture how people respond in a resource constrained situation, which is a contribution this thesis makes to the social practice theory literature. While the importance of technical supply solutions to water situations cannot be overlooked, this study shows that addressing water demand and supply cannot be entirely dependent on them. Understanding people’s social practices and the ways in which they adjust to changes in water provision can be valuable to inform policy aimed at building resilience and adaptive strategies to crisis situations such as water paucity. Keywords: Social practices, water, demand and supply, materials, meanings and competences, resilience and adaptation, Gaborone, Botswana. ii Acknowledgements Above all, I would like to thank God Almighty for bringing me this far! I cannot wish for a better blessing. There are many people who contributed to my work and although in many respects a thesis is very much an individual achievement, I believe it is a product of collaboration. I therefore would like to appreciate the following in my team: Firstly, many thanks go to all my research participants (the householders, government departments, NGOs and the academics) for sharing their experiences and opinions. Your input has greatly contributed to this research. Your generosity and optimistic attitudes towards life is terrific. I will always remember you! My sincere gratitude also goes to my supervision team: Dr Lin Roberts and Dr Ronlyn Duncan. I thank you for your support, patience, encouragement and guidance through what seemed to be the most taxing time of my life. Your critical analysis and questioning of my work has stimulated creative discussions and useful insights into demand management. Their individual supervisory skills made them a great team-I could not ask for any better supervisors! Lin and Ronlyn have always had confidence in my work which has been of great significance to me. Through their support, my world has been transformed! I also appreciate Mr John Gould whose input was very valuable especially at the beginning of this research and the parental support he offered during my stay in New Zealand. I am very grateful to my sponsors: NZAID scholarship for according me the opportunity to study in New Zealand. It was not just a good opportunity but a life experience. Special thanks to Sue Bowie and Jayne Borrill from the scholarship office for making my stay in New Zealand memorable. My time in Lincoln University was an epic life experience! The two years I have spent in New Zealand coincided with a series of less to medium intensive physical shaking of the land in the Canterbury region-something which is not common in Africa. The earthquakes I experienced from time to time triggered anxiety and emotional disorder which nearly affected my studies and progress of this thesis. But through the support from the Lincoln community, my family and friends, the thesis was completed on time. Special thanks to my mother and sister who had to endure looking after my little prince and did not find any reason to ask me why I still want to study but continued to provide an unwavering support during my studying time. Many thanks to my little sweet angel Lethabo, who certainly introduced a new challenging chapter in my life but gave me the motive to soldier on with what I was doing. Special thanks to my hubby for according me his constant love, support and motivation. His support motivated me throughout the process of my study. “Be strong and work” were his constant words. iii Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ viii List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 The Global context ....................................................................................................................2 1.2 World water demand and scarcity ............................................................................................3 1.3 Background information to Botswana ......................................................................................3 1.4 History of Gaborone..................................................................................................................4 1.5 Planning and development of Gaborone ..................................................................................5 1.6 Climate change and rainfall patterns ........................................................................................5 1.7 History of the water challenges in Gaborone ...........................................................................6 1.8 Statement of the problem ........................................................................................................8 1.9 Research objectives and questions ...........................................................................................9 1.10 Structure of this thesis ........................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................ 11 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Theory of Social practice ........................................................................................................ 11 2.3 Practice elements and their relationships ............................................................................. 13 2.3.1 Materials ....................................................................................................................14 2.3.2 Meanings ....................................................................................................................15 2.3.3 Competences .............................................................................................................16 2.4 Human beings as carriers of practices ................................................................................... 17 2.5 Scripting practices in material objects ................................................................................... 19 2.6 Reproduction and transformation of practices ....................................................................