Water Flows, Infrastructure, and Inequalities: A Political Industrial Ecology of an India Small Touristic Town in 2024

The complex interplay between urban water flows, infrastructure, and socio-economic inequalities in small and medium-sized urban centers remains understudied, primarily due to limitations in data availability and methodological challenges. Many such towns have tourist attractions and receive millions of visitors annually, further putting significant pressure on their water resources. To address this gap, this study introduces an innovative primary-data-driven method, employing a political-industrial ecology framework to assess the urban water system of Bodh Gaya, a small touristic town in India. It deploys a mixed-method approach by integrating a survey with households (n = 107) and tourism industry including hotels and monasteries (n = 15), semi-structured interviews (n = 40), and focus group discussions (n = 5). Findings reveal that despite importing 7,300 million liters (ML) of water from 150 kilometers away for supplying piped water, 83% of households and the tourism industry rely on groundwater because of precarious infrastructure (2,190 ML system leakage) and embedded inequalities. Annual groundwater abstraction, including agriculture, is 44,307 ML significantly exceeding the estimated recharge of 15,037 ML, resulting in an unsustainable water balance. The study identifies key challenges in water management and offers recommendations for urban water planning and policy interventions.