The Water Diaries

Cyclones, flash floods, droughts, and pollution batter the aspirations of people living at the sharp end of water insecurity. By charting the daily water use behaviour of people in Kenya and Bangladesh for a year, this book explores the intersecting drivers of global water risks and the spatial and seasonal inequalities. Comprising a clear methodological chapter and four detailed case studies of both urban and rural areas, it critically reviews existing policy and institutional design, arguing for a new architecture in allocating risks and responsibilities fairly and effectively between government, communities, enterprises, and water users. In identifying the risks and potential responses for policy and investment action, it provides theoretical insights and a practical guide to developing more effective policy in Kenya and Bangladesh, with solutions that will be applicable in other regions facing similar challenges. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Sonia Hoque is a Bangladesh-born environmental social scientist, with eight years of postdoctoral research on water security and poverty under the UK Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (UK FCDO)-funded REACH Programme at the University of Oxford. She has worked in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Kenya, focusing on the inequalities in household and individual experiences of water risks related to rural and urban drinking water services and river pollution by the global fashion industry.

Rob Hope is Professor of Water Policy at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He directed the UK FCDO REACH Programme between 2015 and 2024 that has improved water security for over 10 million vulnerable people in Africa and Asia. He co-founded Uptime in 2018 which has issued results-based contracts to guarantee reliable drinking water for over 5 million rural people in 17 countries in 2024. He has published over 100 academic papers.