Vivre avec la pénurie d’eau à Recife

Abstract

This article enlightens the strategies of the inhabitants of all social classes from Recife, capital of Pernambuco (Brazil) so as to cope with the irregular and insufficient water supply of the public network. Based on a long-term fieldwork mixing ethnographical observations of the inhabitants’ water related daily life, and interviews with the water and sanitation managers, it describes how the inhabitants, especially the poorest, deal with the fear of running out of water. After characterizing the public authorities’ attitude as a denial of the situation, we advance two main hypothesis to explain it: firstly, by describing the “quantophrenia” that permeates the public policies in Pernambuco, and secondly analysing the political and institutional logics that fragment the sector of water and sanitation services.

Keywords

• water
• sanitation
• Brazil
• Recife
• governance
• urbanization