In Sultanpur, India access to drinking water takes a variety of forms, due to varying hydrological conditions and different technologies available. Water from the piped supply network and groundwater form the two main drinking water sources. These water resources are accessed in different ways and are used for different purposes.
This article presents a study on inequities in drinking water access in the peri-urban Sultanpur, Haryana, India. It is based on three months of field research, in which mainly qualitative data were collected through participatory observation and interviews. The study analyses drinking water access of vulnerable groups in this peri-urban village, and the difficulties and inequity they face in this.
By using the hydrosocial cycle as an analytical tool for this, water access is taken to be constituted by both social and environmental factors, with power relations having an important role in this. For both drinking water resources in the village, groundwater and a piped network supply network, processes of exclusion and inequitable access were uncovered. Significantly, these occur along lines of social identity of caste and gender. Economic and geographic factors play an important role as well. Lower caste and/or poor households face most difficulty in organizing water access. Peri-urban developments will likely create new vulnerabilities in water access, in which the poor and landless face the largest risks.