Filtering for purity: middle-class attitudes to water in urban India
Abstract
The new middle class in contemporary India is dominated by anxiety about the quality of resources and infrastructures. Concentrating on water management in independent houses and gated communities in the South Indian city of Hyderabad, this study highlights concerns about “quality” manifesting in distrust of state-supplied water. This leads to the emergence of private water suppliers and water purifiers. Using the framework of “technopolitics,” this paper articulates how urban residents’ anxieties about water are as much about place and purity as they is about quality and taste, articulated through the discourse of corruption and preference for technological solutions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Water Governance and Infrastructure
Child Nutrition and Water Access
Water resources management and optimization
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Asian Anthropology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 101–114
- Publication date
- 30 March 2026
- Language
- EN