This document summarizes a paper about the divide between expert and lay knowledge in wastewater governance in New Delhi, India. It discusses how wastewater is seen as an environmental and social problem by experts but also has practical, social and aesthetic dimensions from the perspectives of urban residents based on their lived experiences. There is a mismatch between these expert and lay perspectives that current policies and interventions do not adequately address. The document calls for ways to better incorporate different forms of knowledge, such as from urban citizens and local state representatives, to enhance the acceptability of solutions.

1. ‘Our power rests with numbers’ Re-visiting the divide between ‘expert’ and ‘lay’ knowledge in contemporary wastewater governance: New Delhi, India Tim Karpouzoglou: SPRU, Sussex University Tim Karpouzoglou Social Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability 22nd March, 2011 Water Symposium

2. Insights from paper (in progress) co-authored with Anna Zimmer, University of Bonn A synthesis of findings from doctoral research: Qualitative design/fieldwork using case studies: - Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi - Unauthorized colony, east Delhi Interviews with pollution scientists, water engineers, residents, politicians, local administrative stuff, activists, NGO representatives

3. A wastewater crisis? Urban wastewater perceived as a cause of environmental degradation in cities river bodies transformed into ‘drains’ degrading urban ecosystems & water resources ‘smell’ pollution, water borne diseases, visual impacts And a contributing factor to social injustice higher exposure of poorer urban citizens to wastewater than the middle classes, urban elites Implications for health, livelihoods, well being

4. The wastewater crisis and current debates More emphasis on ‘implementation’ failure A lack of infrastructure to meet population demands (Singh, 2009) A need for greater financial investment in the sector (Banaerjee, 2009) Absence of ‘political will’ (McGranahan & Jacobi, 2001) But much less about the role of contested knowledges (…and ways of addressing their integration) ‘Expert’ vs. ‘Lay’ (Wynne, 1996), typeof knowledge National, City, local level actors (Long & Long, 1992) scaleof produced knowledge

5. Policies and interventions International level: Sanitation-> infrastructure improvements (e.g. increasing numbers of toilets) (development driven) Water supply-> increaseSTP’s to control surplus water discharge (environment driven) City level Increase services to the poor-> JNURM, 100% coverage by 2012 River pollution -> River Action plans (YAP, GAP)

6. Problem framing: Wastewater and the role of experts Use Based Classification of Surface Waters In India (adapted from, CPCB)

9. Wastewater in the colony: The practical, social and aesthetic dimension Problematising ‘wastewater’ based on lived experiences suggests a different type of knowledge Practical: - Wastewater overflow, ‘to get out of the house we have to get down and get wet’, Social: - Health problems related to lack of ‘cleanliness’ - Contamination of ‘drinking water’ - sense of embarrassment, ‘it stinks so much, how can you live like this’ Aesthetic: - ‘I can clean as much as I want inside, as soon as I go outside I feel dirty’

10. Concluding points Mismatch between ‘expert’ and ‘lay’ perspectives around wastewater ‘Unrecognized’ sources of knowledge: urban citizens, state representatives (intermediaries between policy and implementation) How can the acceptability of different forms of knowledge (and language) be enhanced? - Ward Committees? (Ghosh & Tawa Lama-Rewal, 2005) - Participatory tools? e-governance? GIS?

11. Thank you! “This is a 3rd class area, I would prefer to call it 4th class, (…) [the neighbouring authorised colony] is 2nd class. In 1st class areas even the cars are not covered, you can’t find any dust on them and the trees look like washed, but here even inside the house there is so much dust!” Interview with resident of Colony, Delhi Source: Zimmer, 2009