Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75

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Geoforum
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geoforum

Flowing against the current: The socio-technical mediation of

water (in)security in periurban Gurgaon, India
Vishal Narain a, Aditya Kumar Singh b,⇑
a
MDI (Management Development Institute), Gurgaon, India
b
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) University, New Delhi, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This research is located at the intersection of three canals in periurban Gurugram. Two of these canals
Received 1 July 2016 were built to provide water for the growing city of Gurugram and one of them carries the wastewater
Received in revised form 2 February 2017 of the city back to the villages. These canals cut through periurban villages that are excluded in principle
Accepted 20 February 2017
from taking benefit of these canals. They are meant to be at their receiving end, as recipients of these
Available online 28 February 2017
waters. The paper, using a socio-technical lens, explores the mixed impacts of these canals on the villages
through which they traverse. The paper further describes the strategies that periurban communities
Keywords:
devise to circumvent the situation of exclusion. Using a qualitative, ethnographic research design, the
Urbanization
Water insecurity
paper describes the socio-technical mediation of periurban water insecurity, focusing on the mix of tech-
Periurban nologies and institutions that spring up around these canals that shape the periurban water users’ access
Technology to water. The paper concludes that approaches for promoting community resilience and periurban water
India security need to start from an understanding of the strategies devised by periurban communities to
Adaptation improve their access to water. In the larger discourse on building community resilience in the face of
urbanization and climate change it is important to pay attention to local norms of cooperation that enable
periurban communities to access water, rather than start from a premise that water insecurity caused by
urbanization and climate change will lead to conflicts or necessitate capacity-building to promote avoid
conflict and promote cooperation.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
This paper presents on-going research under the CoCOON-
CCMCC1 project on periurban water security. The project seeks to
explore how urbanization and climate change shape periurban water
(in)security and the possibilities for conflict and cooperation around
water. In Gurugram, an emerging residential, recreation and out-
sourcing hub of North-West India, the research is located at the
interface of three canals, the Gurugram-Jhajjar Canal, the NCR
(National Capital Region)2 Canal and the GWS (Gurugram Water
Supply) Channel. The first of these canals carries the waste of the city
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: vishalnarain@mdi.ac.in (V. Narain), singh.kr.aditya@gmail.com
(A.K. Singh).
1
CoCOON-CCMCC (Conflict and cooperation in the Management of Natural
Resources- Conflict and Cooperation in the Management of Climate Change) is a
programme funded by the NWO, the Dutch Scientific Organization that seeks to
promote research, capacity building and policy influence in the management of
conflict and cooperation over natural resources caused by climate change.
2
The National Capital Region includes New Delhi, the capital city of India and
adjoining cities (Ghaziabad and Faridabad) of the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
through the periurban villages while the latter two were built to
carry fresh water from the country side to water treatment plants
to provide water to the city. The selection of these canals as the unit
of research is based on the focus of the project on urban sheds,
exploring the relationship between rural and urban water supply.
On-going research seeks to explore the dynamics of water use and
practices as water flows from rural to urban areas and vice-versa.
This is to challenge the conventional dichotomy between rural and
urban water supply common place in water resources planning
and management.
The construction of these three canals is guided by the growth
and expansion of the city and the periurban villages through which
they pass are meant to be mere recipients of these changes. In par-
ticular, they are not allowed to use the water flowing through the
freshwater canals, that is, the GWS and the NCR Channel. Thus,
there is in place an, ‘‘exclusion by design”. In this paper we show
how periurban communities devise their own ways to take advan-
tage of this situation. A wide range of technologies and institutions
have sprung up along these canals that demonstrate the socio-
technical mediation of water insecurity. The interface of water
users with these canals takes place through a wide range of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.02.010
0016-7185/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
technologies and institutions. These patterns of social interaction,
located in time and space, are also associated with forms of con-
flicts and cooperation.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The following
section provides a conceptual groundwork for the analysis of
periurban water issues. This is followed by a discussion of the
research context of Gurugram, and the research design and theo-
retical and conceptual framework. The subsequent sections
describe the interface of the three canals with the periurban vil-
lages they pass through – that they are intended to exclude from
serving – and the strategies employed by these communities to cir-
cumvent this situation. We conceptualise water insecurity not in
terms of some absolute indicators or definition, but to describe
the changing access to and uncertainty attached to the sources of
water supply in periurban contexts (for a review of the emergence
of the concept and paradigm of water security, see Cook and
Bakker, 2012).3
2. Conceptual groundwork for the analysis of periurban water
issues
The word ‘periurban’ represents an interface of the rural and
urban in various respects – cutting across locations, livelihoods,
economic activities and institutions. In this paper, we use the word
as a construct to look at urban-rural relationships and transforma-
tions. The word ‘periurban’ can be conceptualised variously as a
place in terms of its physical location – an intermediary between
the village and the city, as a conceptual lens for studying the tran-
sition between the urban and rural, or as a rural-urban interface of
activities and institutions (Narain and Nischal, 2007; Allen, 2003;
Iaquinta and Drescher, 2000; Narain and Singh, 2016). Iaquinta
and Drescher (2000) question place-based definition of periurban,
arguing that the institutional contexts define periurban, rather
than distance or physical proximity to the city.
There is no consensus definition of a periurban area or space.
Broadly, however, the periurban could be understood as a space
in constant transition, resting on the fringes of the cities, between
the rural and urban, and the population living here is in constant
interaction with both the rural and urban worlds. It is socially
divergent and may comprise small farmers, urban middle class
as well as entrepreneurs residing together. It is characterised by
a two-way flow of goods and services between the rural and
urban spheres and the extent of participation in this flow may
not be equitably distributed among periurban communities. Insti-
tutionally, periurban spaces may be covered under the purview of
both urban and rural institutions with overlapping jurisdictions.
These fringes of the city therefore have a mixed identity, as they
share the heterogeneous characteristics of both rural and urban
areas.
Urbanization represents a process of ecological transformation
by humans, rather than just a social and economic process
(Huang et al., 2010). Cities have an urban metabolism and their
growth has an increasing ecological foot-print; they receive
resources from the peripheral areas and discharge their wastes
back into them. Analysing periurban issues thus can throw light
on how the ecological foot-print of cities is borne and how the
urban metabolism manifests itself. As cities and their core areas
exhaust their carrying capacity, periurban spaces serve as a spill-
over of this expansion. They act as a source of supply to the
demand of the city’s utilities and infrastructure services. The
assimilative capacity of a periurban space is thus at the disposal
of the heavy requirement of modern and growing cities.
3
See also FAO (2000), GWP (2000), Norman et al. (2010), Biswas (1999) and Dunn
and Bakker (2009) for different conceptual approaches to water security.
67
A conceptual lens of periurban therefore provides insights into
how the ecological foot-print of urbanization is borne (Rees,
1992; Huang et al., 2010). Water treatment plants to meet the
requirements of the city are often established on the CPR (Common
Property Resources) of the fringes, which reduces the size of live-
stock holding (Vij and Narain, 2016; Mishra, 2015). Water is chan-
nelized either through pipe lines to the city or through tankers for
unauthorised colonies. Local residents may thus be deprived of
potable water. Thus periurban spaces often suffer from marginal-
ization and exclusion, raising questions about water justice and
equity (Kundu, 2008; Narain, 2014). An inclusive approach towards
periurban processes can help in sustainable transformation of
urbanization (Marshall, 2016).
Periurban areas, nevertheless, grow in importance as they make
a growing contribution to the regional economy; however, they are
characterised by structural fragmentation and infrastructure defi-
ciency, weakening of formal and centralised governance and legis-
lation, spatial segregation, and the emergence of patron-client
relationships created by the existence of private property develop-
ers (Hudalah et al., 2007). They are also characterised by low rural
productivity and challenge the environmental sustainability of
metropolitan regions.
Though generalizations are difficult, periurbanization processes
often reveal some common characteristics. Periurban livelihoods
draw on both urban and rural activities, with considerable varia-
tion among periurban populations in terms of their ability to do
so. The periurban elite may able to straddle the rural-urban
divide, while others face marginalization and deprivation (Vij,
2015; Narain, 2009a). Rural-urban links are crucial in supporting
periurban livelihoods. A considerable proportion of population
relies on employment in the nearby expanding city, while conven-
tional sources of employment such as agricultural practices and
livestock may be on the decline (Vij, 2015). This process may take
place on account of such factors as the risk of crop failure due to
climate change, declining availability of required inputs such as
agricultural or common lands, growing scarcity of natural
resources, lack of a post-harvest market and lack of government
assistance.
The movement towards urbanization is accelerated by external
forces and state policies, which shape the transformation of these
spaces. Periurban transformations happen when they are sup-
ported by the government or the power of government gets sub-
dued. For Instance, in Thailand the large flow of FDI (Foreign
Direct Investment) – in other words, the investor agenda helped
in creating industrial infrastructure and the National Government
developed periurban spaces under its shadow. Whereas in China,
the government developed major industrial estates through local
state enterprises (Hudalah et al., 2007).
On account of growing pressures and changing natural
resource use, conflicts around land and water can be common.
The growth of cities creates new demands for land at the periph-
ery. In the developing world, conflicts concerning legal issues of
land ownership are common (Von der dunk et al., 2011) with
changes in land use, water-use patterns also undergo a change
(Narain, 2009a, 2009b; Janakarajan, 2009). This can take different
forms. Periurban water bodies may be filled to build urban infras-
tructure (Prakash et al., 2011). Resources located at the fringes of
these cities are utilised for the requirements of both the fringe
area and the adjacent urban spaces. The urban commons often
bear the brunt of these processes (Narain and Vij, 2016;
Unnikrishnan et al., 2016). Moreover the dependence on com-
mons is higher in periurban areas than in cities (Nagendra and
Ostrom, 2014).
As this paper demonstrates, periurban spaces face unique water
governance challenges. Water governance could be highly unregu-
lated and shaped by institutions and practices unique to the local
68 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
context. Water rights and governance are characterised by legal
pluralism4; state law or formal law do not necessarily govern the
use of natural resources; this process is shaped instead by a host
of other local norms and practices. These may be more important
in periurban contexts given that formal structures might be weak
or in transition. The pattern of resource utilization is realised
through a complex process embedded in the normative principles
of a community that constitute the basis of social organization, Infor-
mal norms of cooperation and local power relations may be crucial
in shaping these. While formal state law may provide the broad con-
tours of water governance, normative principles, norms and prac-
tices interface closely with this – or render it totally redundant
and resource utilization can be more complex than what meets the
eye.
In this context, the research presented in this paper challenges
the commonly held view that there is a governance lacuna in peri-
urban contexts. If we define governance to mean the mechanisms
through which control and authority are exercised over natural
resources (see for instance, World Bank, 1998), then in periurban
contexts, such mechanisms do exist, but are more pronounced in
the non-statutory sphere.
3. Research context, theoretical framework and methodology
Urbanization has been a key demographic trend in India in the
past and current century. In particular, the nature of urbanization
processes has undergone a change since the neo-liberal reforms
of 1991, with more space being created for private enterprise
and real estate (Vij and Narain, 2015). Several Indian cities have
seen a steady growth, sustained by a real estate boom and the
rapid growth of outsourcing and other services.
Gurugram, in the North-Western Indian state of Haryana, is a
good example of this, and its growth has been accompanied by a
systematic process of acquisition of land and water from the
peripheral areas, creating pockets of deprivation for periurban
communities. The population of Gurugram stood at 1.5 million in
2011 against 0.8 million in 2001 – this indicates a population
growth of 87.5% in a decade (Census, 2001, 2011); a high demand
for better utility services has been created. A real estate boom since
the 1990s was accompanied by a process of land use change
wherein land was acquired by the state as well as by real estate
and put to alternative uses (Narain, 2009a, 2009b; Vij and
Narain, 2016).
At present, there is tremendous stress on the city’s groundwater
resources. The city’s groundwater table level is depleting at a rate
of 1 m per year.5 The level of the city’s groundwater table has fallen
below 33 m, though in the neighbouring areas of Sohna, and
Farookhnagar, the level still hovers around 22.79 and 17.69 m
respectively. Over the next seven years, the city’s groundwater level
is expected to fall to about 40 m; by 2030, the city’s groundwater
levels may plummet well at about 50 m. This fall in water table is
attributed to the mushrooming of hundreds of multi-national corpo-
rations that led to an increase in population growth over the last two
decades.
Current policy approaches have done little to arrest the growing
pressure on groundwater from the burgeoning demographic and
4
Legal pluralism refers to a situation where different institutions, norms, practices
and codes of conduct co-exist with regard to the same set of activities (von Benda-
Beckmann, 1989). It refers to the plural bases of sanction and authority. State law co-
exists with norms, practices and codes which may have a different basis of sanction. A
perspective of legal pluralism focuses on the individual as he is confronted with these
different legal or institutional systems; it is about the mutually supportive or
contradictory relationship among these different legal or institutional systems.
5
City water table dipping 1 m every year: Inches closer to danger mark, Underlines
need for urgent recharge steps. The Times of India, New Delhi/Gurugram. July 15,
2014.
economic growth. A High Court order in 2012 had prohibited
extraction of groundwater by setting up bore wells for construction
or residential purposes, allowing only civic agencies to withdraw
water. However, illegal groundwater extraction is known to be
rampant. The rapid expansion of real estate beyond the capacity
of state agencies to meet the new demands is considered responsi-
ble for the current water stress.
With the failure of legal approaches, several other responses are
advocated by different segments of society. One response from
civil society organizations has been a growing demand to build
water banks. An alternative perception, common among authori-
ties, is that the problem lies not necessarily with increased water
withdrawals, but the failure to recharge groundwater adequately.
This narrative is likely to tilt the focus of policy on supply augmen-
tation, for instance, through recharge measures, rather than put in
place measures for effective demand management, that may be
needed in the long term. Competing narratives thus lead to alter-
native framings of the water problem, and to different forms of
focus for policy intervention.
The predominant supply side response to this problem by civic
authorities, thus far, however, has been augmentation of the water
infrastructure of the city to meet the growing requirements. This
has been done by acquiring lands from the peripheral villages,
namely, Basai, Chandu and Budhera to build water treatment
plants and the construction of three canals to meet the fresh and
wastewater requirements of the growing city. These three canals,
cutting through the periurban villages – that lost both land and
the water sources located on them in the process – are as follows:
1. Gurugram water supply (GWS) channel: the channel originates
at Sonepat in Kakroi village, carrying water to the treatment
plant at Basai. It is under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Water
Services Division of the Irrigation Department. The channel
was constructed in the year 1994–95 with a capacity of 135
cusecs, which has since been increased to 200 cusecs. The
remaining requirement of 800 cusecs of water, out of the ulti-
mate projected demand of 1000 cusecs, was expected to be
met through the new NCR Water Supply Channel.
2. National Capital Region (NCR) Water Supply Channel was built
to supply water to the fast growing Gurugram city and other
proposed townships of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastruc-
ture Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and SEZs by corporate
developers in the area. NCR channel runs parallel to GWC.
Initially the channel had water carrying capacity of 500 cusecs,
with a provision to increase its carrying capacity to 800 cusecs.
The channel has been obliged to meet the requirement of drink-
ing water in the embryonic metropolitan city of Gurugram and
also for other areas like Bahadurgarh, Sampla, Badli, rural areas
of Jhajjar district, SEZs (Special Economic Zones) and industrial
townships at Manesar, Bahadurgarh and Kharkhoda (www.
oneindia.com, 2008).
The water from the NCR channel is pumped into the GWC canal
at village Budhera to meet the increasing demand.
3. The wastewater canal that runs from Gurugram is called the
Gurugram–Jhajjar wastewater canal. The area that it traverses
through is not served by an irrigation canal and the groundwa-
ter is saline; wastewater has thus provided an important means
of expanding the cultivation choices of farmers in this area, by
providing a perennial source of irrigation. Wheat, paddy and
jowar (Sorghum bicolor) (a fodder crop) are grown using
wastewater.
Maps 1 and 2 show the three canals passing through our study
area.
The NCR channel and GWS Canal carry fresh water to meet the
demand of the city. The waste water canal passes through the
 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
Map 1.
Map 2. Source: adapted from Google maps.
periurban area. The rectangular portion is our research site. The
Chandu-Budhera water treatment plant is built on the grazing land
of Budhera Village, represented by circle B in Map 2.
Starting at Circle A the three canals run parallel to each other.
The following sections of this paper examine the interface of
periurban communities with these canals using a socio-technical
lens (Kloezen and Mollinga, 1992). This conceptual framing looks
at the diversity of technologies and institutions that mediate their
relationship with the water flowing in these canals. There are three
premises in the socio-technical approach to water management;
namely, that technology is socially constructed, technology has
social effects and technology has social requirements for use. The
socio-technical approach to water management provides an entry
point for inter-disciplinary water resource studies, in focusing
attention on the relationship between technologies and institu-
tions in water management.
The socio-technical approach sees technologies not as socially
neutral, but as socially constructed. They are socially shaped and
69
a reflection of societal values and belief systems; they are
constituted and reconstituted by social and power relations. Fur-
ther, technologies have social effects. They are impacted by and
impact social relations. Technology has social requirements for
use; all technologies have operational implications. This is an
important factor influencing the choice of water technologies. A
socio-technical perspective thus calls for attention to the develop-
ment of an institutional structure complementing the (water) tech-
nology to secure a fit between technology and institutions.
Institutional forms in water governance are shaped by the
operational and design features of irrigation systems (Narain,
2008). Further, water technologies are sign-posts of struggle
(Mollinga et al., 1996) – as gates, the structures through which
water is released are sources of control over water and conflicts
happen around these gates when there are competing interests.
Technologies and institutions mediate the relationship between
the users and the resource; they shape access to water. People may
adapt to water insecurity through a mix of technologies and
70 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
institutions. Technological adaptation refers to the use of new
technologies to access water, for instance, drip, sprinkler or
submersible pump-sets. Likewise, institutional adaptation takes
place by mobilising institutions or developing new ones. For
instance, very often users mobilise social capital to improve their
access to water. People also devise rules and norms in times of
scarcity (Narain, 2016). For example, studies have shown that
women in Kathmandu ration the water to each house on days
when water supply falls short; they mutually decide on the size
and number of buckets. Likewise, water markets often develop in
new and growing cities and evolve as an institutional response to
such scarcity. In the specific context of this paper, a socio-
technical approach is used to examine how periurban communities
relate to the canals using a mix of technologies and institutions,
and the role that these play in shaping their water security.
The research methodology was predominantly qualitative,
relying on an ethnographic approach involving semi-structured
interviews with periurban communities, key informant inter-
views, focused group discussions, and direct observation of the
interface of periurban communities with these canals. Canal
walks and rides were an important part of the methodology
for direct observation. Members of the project team spent time
walking along the canals to observe the interface of the periur-
ban communities with these sources of water as mediated by
a wide diversity of technologies or artefacts -and institutions,
the norms, practice and codes of conduct (North, 1990) that
shape the use of water. Members of the team also drove along
the stretches of the three canals, to observe changing topogra-
phy, mechanisms for the release and control of water and the
interface of water users with the agencies of the state. They
walked along field channels and water courses to observe farm-
ers divert water to their fields and their strategies to control the
direction and volume of water. Field level irrigation practices
were thus observed and became the basis for further investiga-
tion, especially for norms of cooperation and forms of conflict
around water.
A mix of theoretical, convenience and snowball sampling was
used. The team sampled events, people, and timings in relation
to their significance for the study. As noted above, farmers were
interviewed during the process of irrigation to observe the norms
and practices surrounding irrigation as well as the diversity of
technologies that were used to improve control over irrigation.
Interviews and observations were conducted at critical times, for
instance, during preparation of fields for paddy irrigation or imme-
diately after heavy rainfall, or when a conflict was observed. Some
PRA exercises were carried out to examine the changing cropping
pattern over the years as well as aspects of climatic change and
variability.
Farmers across four villages – Budhera, Kaliawaas and Badsa –
around these canals were interviewed through semi-structured
interviews while irrigating their fields. This helped in capturing
and investigating the experiences of these farmers, aided by
direct observation; the opinions and experiences varied over
short distances and provided leads for further research. Key
informant interviews and meetings with village elderly provided
a historical perspective. The gate operator of the Gurugram-
Jhajjar canal was a key informant and provided much needed
information on the interface of the irrigators with the wastewater
canal, the dynamics of water release and conflicts between the
expectations and requirements of the farmers and the operation
of the wastewater canal. Officials of the irrigation department
were interviewed to understand the dynamics of water release
in the canals. Group discussion with village folk helped under-
stand the impacts of the three canals and changes in cropping
and irrigation practices as well as aspects of climatic change
and variability.
4. Interface with these canals: rural-urban transformations and
water flows
Urbanization processes distribute risks and opportunities
unequally (Narain, 2009a). These three canals have had differential
impacts on the periurban villages through which they pass. Some
villages have benefited from the access to wastewater that has
widened their cropping choices, while many others face problems
of fertility loss on account of rising seepage from the fresh water
canals. The presence of saline ground water caused by a lowering
water table on account of increased withdrawals for urban expan-
sion; seepage caused by the construction of fresh water canals; the
imperatives of the fulfilment of cities’ demand, be it of water, grain
or vegetables; and aggressive water markets –diverting water from
the periurban to urban areas- demonstrate the water dynamics in a
periurban setting.
These changes take place in an environment of a changing
climate: a decline in the frequency, intensity and seasonal
distribution of rainfall, disappearance of the ‘chaumasa’ (the four
month monsoon season), rising temperature, shorter winters and
prolonged summers (Narain et al., 2016). Analysis of hydro-
meteorological data for the region supported a long term decline
in the rainfall and its changing seasonal distribution and increase
in evapo-transpiration. On the one hand, these communities are
impacted by changes brought on by urbanization – losing land
and water resources to support urban expansion, on the other
hand, they are impacted by climate change and variability. It is
in this context that we examine their relationship with these
canals and the role of technologies and institutions in shaping
access to water.
4.1. Changing climate and cropping patterns
PRA exercises conducted in one of the villages, Kaliawaas,
revealed through a pie chart (Picture 1) a changing crop preference
over a period of 20 years.
Farmers increased the area under mustard from 25% to 65% and
reduced wheat from 50% to 25%. There was also a decrease in the
percentage of area under vegetables. The most important reason
for the decrease in the area under wheat and vegetables was the
declining rainfall (trend line for rainfall conducted during PRA
exercise, (Picture 2). Further, several farmers spoke about a weak
and shorter winter season, which is necessary for vegetables and
wheat.
A seasonality analysis conducted in the same village reinforced
the same observations regarding the changing duration of seasons
and the decline in the area under vegetables (Picture 3).
4.2. The waste of the city is the taste of the city: wastewater use in
periurban agriculture
In this context, the coming in of the wastewater canal in the
region played an important role in shaping the agricultural profile
of the region. Bereft of an irrigation canal and characterised by
growing salinity in the face of falling water tables and declining
rainfall, areas that are served by this canal were able to start com-
mercial cultivation of wheat and paddy. A farmer, during field
research said, ‘‘kuchh nahin ugta tha yahan (nothing grew here)”,
the area was primarily rain fed. The waste water canal is seen as
a life – giver to this area.
However, several narratives surrounding the use of wastewater
are heard in the field. Farmers consider waste water to be a good
substitute for fertilisers as it is rich in nutrients. They believe that
the crop is more resilient than the crop fed with fresh water. A
common narrative in the field is ‘‘Yeh paani Glucose hai” (This water
 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75 71

Crop Pattern 1995 Crop Pattern 2015

25% 25%
50% Mustard Mustard
25% 65%
Vegetable Vegetable
Wheat 10% Wheat

Picture 1. Area under crops in Kaliawaas village, PRA exercises.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10
Rainfall
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015

Picture 2. Trend line of rainfall in Kaliawaas village, PRA exercises (The above chart explains the declining rainfall pattern from 1970 onwards. The y-axis is a rough indicator
of rainfall on a scale of 100. The measurement is not in millimetre but scale to understand qualitatively the decline in rainfall. In 1980 the scale was highest at 58 and then it
starts falling; in 2000 at 35, 2010 at 30 and in 2015 at 20).

Picture 3. Seasonality analysis of crops and seasons in Kaliawaas village, PRA exercise.
72 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75

is glucose) – as it supports those crops that never grew in the
region before and farmers claim it to be giving a better yield too.
Another common perception is that the waste water is fit for crops
that grow above the ground, not for any vegetable or crop that
grows under the ground, as its causticity can burn the root crop.
However, the use of wastewater as a source of irrigation is not
considered sustainable; the soil is understood to lose its productiv-
ity over the long run due to the existence of chemicals in the waste
water.
Farmers use waste water for irrigation; the produce is sent to
the city, while they consume crops irrigated by fresh water. Thus
there are distinct patterns of water use for irrigation along the
canals. Produce for self-consumption is grown using fresh water,
while the produce irrigated by wastewater is sold to the city.
This is an important aspect of rural-urban water flows in the
region – wastewater flowing from the city to the village and the
produce thus irrigated finding its way back to the city.
4.3. Declining productivity of soils along the fresh water canals: loss of
private and common land
Urbanization leads to the transformation of the periurban land-
scape into an urban space that causes an adverse effect on water
and land (Huang et al., 2010). Several farmers complain of loss in
soil fertility due to salinity and seepage owing to the two fresh
water canals, namely, the GWS and NCR Channels. The water table
has risen so much that the salts have emerged on the surface.
Visually, this takes the form of white patches on what were once
agricultural fields. This either makes the land barren or encourages
growth of wild grass. Some villages have lost their common graz-
ing grounds too, that are no longer fit for being used for grazing
on account of the same factor.
As noted earlier in this paper, the commons are disappearing as
urbanization is taking over. Piped water supply has undermined
the Johads (ponds) of the villages. Traditionally, Johads had
religious significance, though they now receive village waste. A
decline in rainfall further creates a disincentive to invest time
and energy in water harvesting. A farmer explained how diminish-
ing Johads are a chief cause for decline in livestock, ‘‘Earlier the
buffaloes would roll in water and de-stress themselves, as a result
milked more but not anymore!” Moreover there are instances
where people have filled Johads with soil and acquired it for their
personal use. The loss of common grazing land and Johads has led
to the loss in the livestock, which constitutes a major component of
asset holding in a rural setting.6
At village Badsa’s pump house, where the wastewater release is
regulated, it is possible to see how seepage is related to topograph-
ical factors such as the elevation of land. One side of the canal,
located at a greater height, may not have seepage compared to
the other. There is greater probability of seepage if the field is
lowly positioned, whereas if the portion is on a slope or higher site,
then the water underneath flows down gravitationally, towards
the low lying area.
4.4. Water thefts along the canals
Actual practices on the ground around these canals deviate
from formal legal provisions and pronouncements. Though signs
along the NCR and GWS channels prohibit water use from these
canals by local communities, water thefts are common. In village
Badsa, farmers use portable motors to steal water from the NCR
and GWS canals, especially at night, and as they sense any threat
they flee with their motors. A little further, where the NCR canal
is not visible from the main road, farmers leave their pumping sets
for days to irrigate their field. They dread no consequences; in fact
bravely lift the water out of the canal, and modestly explain it as an
alternative to not using the saline ground water; the existence of
saline groundwater is used as a justification for water thefts from
the NCR and GWS channels. There are farmers who adhere to the
rules strictly by fear of losing whatever little they have, as there
exists heavy penalty and the pumping motor is confiscated when
such an act is revealed; on the contrary there are several who flout
rules with impunity. In the course of field research, two farmers
claimed that the fresh water that is not lifted at the Mundakhera
pump house is dumped in the Najafgarh canal anyway, hence if
the authorities can dump fresh water in the main drain; it might
as well be used for a productive purpose.
4.5. Rural-urban water flows
Periurbanization processes are characterised by new and
changing flows of water between rural and urban areas (Narain,
2016). The NCR channel which terminates at village Budhera –
supplying water to the water treatment plant located there is also
a source of water for construction activities in the city. Water is
transported to the city through water tankers. After the year
2010, the Supreme Court ordered that no private company would
extract ground water for construction. On approval from the court,
however, one can buy water at the price of 13.5 rupees per litre for
all uses except for drinking. The official records at the water
treatment plant at Budhera reveal that at least 180 trucks (water
tankers) are filled from the plant daily and transported for the
construction needs of the city; approximately, 2.5 million litres
of water is sold on a daily basis during winters; in the summers
it is undoubtedly more than this. Besides, several construction
companies still operate their submersibles and continue extracting
ground water.
4.6. Groundwater extraction and marketing to the city
During our research, we noticed a thriving water market. Local
groundwater is extracted and sold and transported to the city. The
prices vary and the market is unregulated. A tanker of 5000 litres
could cost anything varying from 500 Rs. to 1000Rs.7 or more. At
village Kherki Majra there is a fish farm spread roughly over 15
acres; the water for this large fish farm flows gravitationally from
the neighbouring fields or is extracted from the ground, via pumping
sets. Undoubtedly, strict measures exist to regulate ground water
extraction by the Government in controlling private players; how-
ever these are weakly enforced on the ground. Actual mechanisms
for water governance and allocation are divergent from those
prescribed.
4.7. The hegemony of the city: loss of access to wastewater
Urban demand shapes the water insecurity of the periurban
communities. As the city expands its hegemony expands. This
raises questions about the politics of urban expansion (Shatkin,
2007, Roy, 2004).
Dhanvapur is the village where the Sewage Treatment Plant –
that discharges wastewater – is located, and the city sewage
appears. On one side of Dhanvapur, water is spread over a large
area; it has correspondingly formed a swamp and invites rich avi-
fauna. Interestingly, the waste water canal deviates from its usual
track for a stretch of about 500 m; it is covered on this stretch. This
is because adjoining it are the BPTP residential villas and multi

6 7
See also Vij and Narain (2016). At the time of writing this paper, 1 US Dollar = Indian Rupees 66 approximately.
 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
storied building; as the stretch finishes the canal is uncovered
again. HUDA – the Haryana Urban Development Authority is cov-
ering the canal till where they expect the city to develop in the
coming years; earlier it was left open. As the city expands the canal
gets covered and serves as a drainage system. This means that
farmers no longer will have access to wastewater that they had
earlier.
This comprises an important aspect of the periurban water inse-
curity, in terms of the uncertainty attached to the sources of water
supply. During one of the field interviews with a farmer irrigating
jowar with wastewater, he said ‘‘bund toh nahin karwa do gay (you
do not intend to shut the wastewater canal)”, suspecting that we
were representing the agencies of the State. An important aspect
of the periurban water insecurity is that farmers do not have prior
information regarding the availability of water from the wastewa-
ter canal, or information on the closure of the canal for repairs and
maintenance. Besides, the level of water in the wastewater canal
also varies during the year and during the day, depending mainly
on the discharge upstream.
5. The socio-technical mediation of periurban water insecurity:
emerging evidence of conflicts and cooperation
These three canals are the lifeline of periurban communities.
Though officially they are not allowed to use water from the fresh
water canals, they devise their own ways of circumventing the sit-
uation. These villages have, when seen through a formal planning
lens, been mere recipients of these policies, loosing land and water
sources located on them for the construction of these canals. They
are not, in particular, allowed to use the waters of the two fresh
water canals, but devise their own ways to circumvent this exclu-
sion. The different ways in which periurban communities use these
waters – through a mix of institutions and technologies that spring
up along these canals – speaks of human agency in the socio-
technical mediation of periurban water insecurity. A wide variety
of social interactions, located in time and space (Giddens, 1984)
lead to an institutionalization of a range of practices, giving rise
to both conflicts and cooperation.
Hand-pumps are a common sight along the GWS and NCR
canals; since the periurban communities are not allowed to extract
water directly from these canals, they installed hand-pumps
instead, along the canals to benefit from the rise in the water table.
Most of these hand-pumps were installed by those who seek to
practice ‘‘dharma (religion)”; that is, these hand-pumps are
installed as acts of charity and altruism. In one of the villages,
Badsa, four hand-pumps are installed along the GWS channel. Both
men and women collect water from these. Even though piped
water supply is available through domestic connections, this water
is used for other domestic purposes like washing. The hand-pump
water is the preferred source of drinking, though it is located away
from the settlements and the distance must be walked.
Simultaneously, tube wells were installed to benefit from the
rise in the water table when the Gurugram Water Supply channel
was dug. However, when the NCR channel was built parallel to it,
in order to augment the city’s water supply, the tube-wells had to
be removed, as lands were acquired for the channel. At the same
time, there was a decline in rainfall after the 1970s and the disap-
pearance of what locals call the ‘‘Chaumaasa” – the four month
monsoon period. Together, these policy and climatic changes have
influenced the water (in)security of the periurban communities.
The disappearance of tube wells on the one hand and the
decline in rainfall – in terms of duration and intensity -on the other
have increased the dependence on wastewater – an important
source of irrigation for wheat, paddy and jowar. A wide range of
technologies are used to access the wastewater depending chiefly
73
on topography and the location of the fields relative to the wastew-
ater canal; electric pump-sets, diesel pump-sets, tractors and pipe
outlets.
In fact, it is important to note that in the area served by these
canals, paddy is grown primarily along the wastewater canal or
along the two fresh water canals – to benefit from the rise in the
water table. Interviews with farmers reconfirmed that paddy culti-
vation started in the region only after the introduction of the
wastewater canal.
For many farmers who have lost their tube wells as they were
located on lands that were acquired for the construction of the
fresh water canals, wastewater, that is rich in nutrients, is the only
source to irrigate. When a farmer in the course of fieldwork was
asked why he used wastewater, he threw his hands in the air
and said ‘‘toh aur kya karoon (what else should I do?)” Wastewater
serves as a substitute for rainfall. For instance, for paddy cultiva-
tion, farmers usually wait for the rains; when rains fail, they apply
wastewater.
While there is growing recognition of the value of wastewater
in periurban agriculture and its growing scale and implications for
food security and livelihoods (IWMI, 2003, 2006) little is known
about the dynamics of cooperation around it that allows its use
to be widespread. Only some farmers whose lands are located
along the wastewater canal can pump directly from the canal or
access wastewater through a pipe outlet. This choice is shaped
primarily by topographical factors; when the fields are located
at the bed level of the canal, wastewater is accessed through a
pipe outlet. When the fields are above the level of the canal, it
is pumped using diesel or electric pumps-sets, or a motor run
through a tractor.
However, it is made available to several other farmers whose
lands are located at a distance from the wastewater canal on the
basis of mutual norms of cooperation, locally called bhaibandi.
These norms allow the wastewater to flow – often as much as a
kilometre away – through furrows. The word ’bhaibandi’ denotes
a sense of brotherhood or fraternity and is a basis for mutual coop-
eration in resource sharing. Bhaibandi exists on the basis of physi-
cal proximity of the land, and may exist across land-owners, tillers,
original settlers or migrants. There is also mutual cooperation in
cleaning of the furrows. These forms of cooperation are crucial in
sustaining the use of wastewater and allowing its use to be more
widespread – making it accessible to tillers located away from
the wastewater canal. While recognising the growing role of
wastewater use in periurban agriculture, it is important to pay
heed to these norms of co-operation that allow its use to be wide-
spread. These norms of cooperation manifest in collective building
of furrows below the pipe outlet to allow irrigators to carry the
wastewater away from the pipe outlet to their fields. There is also
collective cleaning of the furrows and watercourses based on
mutual cooperation.
Farmers have a formal or de jure right to access wastewater
from the wastewater canal by applying for a pipe outlet. They
make an application to the Irrigation Department. Once this is
sanctioned, wastewater irrigators are supposed to pay a nominal
fee of Rs. 80 per acre of land to the lumbardaar,8 who deposits that
money with the Irrigation Department. Once the water right has
been sanctioned, wastewater is distributed below the outlet on the
basis of mutual cooperation among farmers. Thus, there is legal plu-
ralism in the use of wastewater; the water right is sanctioned by the
state, but realised by normative systems based on mutual coopera-
tion, that have strong system of social sanction. Both statutory and
non-statutory systems shape waste water access in the field.
8
A lumbardaar is a person who collects the revenue and deposits it in the state
exchequer.
74 V. Narain, A.K. Singh / Geoforum 81 (2017) 66–75
Farmers devise their own strategies to improve control over the
availability of wastewater and to minimise its negative impacts on
their health. The flow of wastewater below the outlet is diverted
through small field channels by building temporary mud embank-
ments taking off from the furrows. When a certain portion of the
fields needs to be irrigated, the mud embankment is removed.
When the irrigation is over, it is built a fresh and water diverted
to another portion of the field. In doing so, farmers stand in the
wastewater with their ankles and wrists immersed in it. To guard
against skin infections, however, they apply mustard oil on their
hands and feet.
Conflicts around wastewater are also common. They happen for
instance, when water from one’s fields overflows to the neigh-
bours’ (when the latter does not need it), damaging his crops. This
is typical when the irrigating farmers’ fields have been irrigated
but he forgets to seal the pipe outlet (this is usually done by insert-
ing jute bags, straw or hay or a lid at the mouth of the pipe outlet),
causing the water to overflow to his neighbours’ fields, when the
latter does not need it. Likewise, while irrigating, if the furrow
breaks or water enters another farmer’s field then too, there may
arise a conflict. These conflicts are further more common where
the land-holding size is small and land-holdings are fragmented
and scattered, as such contiguous parcels of land may be tilled
by different individuals. In cases where farmers have their lands
consolidated together, the probability of a conflict is lesser. More-
over, the fields adjacent to each other are likely to be within the
same family, which lessens the possibility of a conflict.
Gates and control structures that release water are sign-posts of
struggle (Mollinga et al., 1996). Conflicts also happen around
wastewater when there is a mismatch between the wastewater
discharged in the canal and the farmers’ requirements for irriga-
tion; irrigators then go up the gate works at Dhanwapur- where
the wastewater discharge is regulated – to put pressure on the gate
operator to release more water. Sometimes, at the gate works the
embankments get eroded, causing the wastewater to spill over into
the adjoining farmers’ fields. This situation is usually resolved
through petitions to the Irrigation Department and the irrigation
department usually responds without a delay.
The dynamics associated with the use of wastewater suggest
that conflict and co-operation are not mutually exclusive. Conflicts
can occur within overarching contexts of co-operation and vice-
versa. While day to day practices around wastewater are based
on norms of co-operation, there are occasional conflicts around
the use of wastewater.
6. Conclusion
This paper has described the socio-technical mediation of water
insecurity in a periurban context. The research demonstrates how
periurban communities exercise human agency in improving their
water security. They are not passive recipients of the impacts of
urbanization policies and climate change, but innovate technolog-
ically as well as institutionally to improve their water security. A
socio-technical perspective on water use in periurban contexts
can help understand how changing rural-urban water flows give
rise to technological and institutional innovation. Efforts at build-
ing community resilience need to be based on an understanding
of such practices.
In a context wherein urbanization policies are encroaching
upon the land and water resources of periurban communities
and the effects of these are being aggravated by other climatic
changes such as those in rainfall patterns, there is interest in the
donor and academic community to build the resilience of periur-
ban communities to promote cooperation, avoid conflict and
improve water security. Such interventions are projected usually
as some efforts at capacity development. Such interventions
however need to be based on an understanding of the strategies
devised by the periurban communities to improve their water
security as also on an understanding of existing norms of
co-operation that build community resilience. In the larger dis-
course on building community resilience in the face of urbaniza-
tion and climate change, it is important to pay heed to local
norms of co-operation – exemplified in this case by norms of bhai-
bandi- that enable the community to adapt to the effects of such
changes, by allowing wastewater to be used bya large number of
users, especially when access to other sources of water is steadily
declining.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the NWO, Dutch Scientific Organi-
zation. Thanks are expressed to NWO for financial support
provided. Thanks are also expressed to SaciWATERs, South Asian
Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Water Resources Studies,
Secunderabad for organizational support during the study. Thanks
are expressed to the many farmers and periurban residents who
gave their time during the conduct of this study.
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