Urban water crises driven by elites’ unsustainable consumption

Elisa Savelli; Maurizio Mazzoleni; Giuliano Di Baldassarre; Hannah Cloke; Maria Rusca

doi:10.1038/s41893-023-01100-0

Urban water crises driven by elites’ unsustainable consumption

Elisa Savelli^*, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Hannah Cloke, Maria Rusca

^*Corresponding author for this work

Water and Climate Risk

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Over the past two decades, more than 80 metropolitan cities across the world have faced severe water shortages due to droughts and unsustainable water use. Future projections are even more alarming, since urban water crises are expected to escalate and most heavily affect those who are socially, economically and politically disadvantaged. Here we show how social inequalities across different groups or individuals play a major role in the production and manifestation of such crises. Specifically, due to stark socioeconomic inequalities, urban elites are able to overconsume water while excluding less-privileged populations from basic access. Through an interdisciplinary approach, we model the uneven domestic water use across urban spaces and estimate water consumption trends for different social groups. The highly unequal metropolitan area of Cape Town serves as a case in point to illustrate how unsustainable water use by the elite can exacerbate urban water crises at least as much as climate change or population growth.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	929-940
Number of pages	12
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Volume	6
Issue number	8
Early online date	10 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01100-0
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project ‘HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society’, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper.

Funding Information:
This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project ‘HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society’, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper.

Funding Information:
The research protocol for this study was approved by the Municipality of Cape Town (PSRR-0259). The research team followed established guidelines and protocols for ethical research, including those provided by the Italian Research Ethics and Bioethics Committee (protocol 0043071/2019), the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2019-03242) and the European Union under Horizon 2020 (FAIR Data Management and EU General Data Protection Regulation).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

Funding

This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project ‘HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society’, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper. This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project ‘HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society’, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper. The research protocol for this study was approved by the Municipality of Cape Town (PSRR-0259). The research team followed established guidelines and protocols for ethical research, including those provided by the Italian Research Ethics and Bioethics Committee (protocol 0043071/2019), the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2019-03242) and the European Union under Horizon 2020 (FAIR Data Management and EU General Data Protection Regulation).

Funders	Funder number
Italian Research Ethics and Bioethics Committee	0043071/2019
South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation
Swedish Ethical Review Authority	Dnr 2019-03242
European Commission
European Research Council	771678
European Research Council
Horizon 2020

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10.1038/s41893-023-01100-0

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Cite this

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title = "Urban water crises driven by elites{\textquoteright} unsustainable consumption",

abstract = "Over the past two decades, more than 80 metropolitan cities across the world have faced severe water shortages due to droughts and unsustainable water use. Future projections are even more alarming, since urban water crises are expected to escalate and most heavily affect those who are socially, economically and politically disadvantaged. Here we show how social inequalities across different groups or individuals play a major role in the production and manifestation of such crises. Specifically, due to stark socioeconomic inequalities, urban elites are able to overconsume water while excluding less-privileged populations from basic access. Through an interdisciplinary approach, we model the uneven domestic water use across urban spaces and estimate water consumption trends for different social groups. The highly unequal metropolitan area of Cape Town serves as a case in point to illustrate how unsustainable water use by the elite can exacerbate urban water crises at least as much as climate change or population growth.",

author = "Elisa Savelli and Maurizio Mazzoleni and {Di Baldassarre}, Giuliano and Hannah Cloke and Maria Rusca",

note = "Funding Information: This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project {\textquoteleft}HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society{\textquoteright}, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper. Funding Information: This research has received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project {\textquoteleft}HydroSocialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society{\textquoteright}, ERC Consolidator grant no. 771678. The South African Weather Service and the South African Governmental Department of Water and Sanitation provided the meteorological and hydrological data used in this paper. Funding Information: The research protocol for this study was approved by the Municipality of Cape Town (PSRR-0259). The research team followed established guidelines and protocols for ethical research, including those provided by the Italian Research Ethics and Bioethics Committee (protocol 0043071/2019), the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2019-03242) and the European Union under Horizon 2020 (FAIR Data Management and EU General Data Protection Regulation). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

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Urban water crises driven by elites’ unsustainable consumption

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