Water poverty and socioeconomic impasse: the case of Manresa
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Abstract
This article addresses the problem of so-called “water poverty”, a term that in developed countries is used to identify people or households with difficulties for paying their water bills. Water poverty can imply substantial changes in the uses and habits of water use in households with an extreme tendency to save water that may impact the comfort and well-being of residents. In addition to extreme savings, water poverty also stimulates strategies in the form of initiatives to obtain subsidies and other forms of aid. In order to investigate these questions and through interviews that combine quantitative and qualitative data, the paper characterizes the uses and habits of water use, as well as the strategies to reduce the amount of bills in 40 vulnerable households in the municipality of Manresa (Barcelona), a municipality in socioeconomic stagnation. The main conclusion of the paper is that households make notable efforts to save water but are not willing to give up hygiene and comfort habits that they consider essential, such as the daily shower. Likewise, water poverty represents another manifestation of the precarious living conditions in old and degraded districts of the city downtown.
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