| dc.description.abstract | Recent advances in water purification technology, the combined pressures of
population growth and climate change, depletion of traditional water sources,
and rising cost of water, have together improved the cost-effectiveness and
market competitiveness of large-scale seawater desalination as a major water
source option for water stressed cities around the world. Uptake of this
technology has accelerated correspondingly in the past decade or so. Touted as
a ʻsilver bulletʼ solution for offering a drought-proof and inexhaustible source of
potable water, the lifeblood of cities, desalination represents a fairly radical shift
in the geographies and political ecologies of urban water, but it is a change that
has, as of yet, been somewhat overlooked in the critical geography literature.
This dissertation aims to make a small contribution towards rectifying this
oversight, by offering a critical analysis of desalination using an urban political
ecology approach. It does so in three phases. First, by building a conceptual
framework through review of relevant literature. Here, the flow of water from sea
to land is conceptualised as: (1) flows of nature; (2) flows of money; and (3)
flows of power. Second, a methodological approach appropriate for researching
the political ecology of seawater desalination is proposed. An argument is made
for a synthesis between Marxist historical materialism and Actor Network
Theory (ANT), one that combines the political potency of the former with the
reflexivity and analytical nuance of the latter. Third, theoretical
conceptualisations of desalination are grounded in an empirical analysis of a
specific case study, that of Tampa Bay in Florida. Despite having a high annual
rainfall and abundant ground and surface water resources, much of Florida is
considered to be water stressed, making the Sunshine State the nationʼs leader
in the development and implementation of desalination technology. This final
phase frames desalination using the same nature-money-power structure,
which is used to conceptualise this technology in terms of its implications for
environment and development in Florida. | en |
