“A bounded existence”: examining the entanglement of scalar and intersectional experiences of water scarcity in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa

Water scarcity profoundly shapes the lived experiences of low-income women of color from the peripheral neighborhoods (townships) of Cape Town, South Africa. Water shortages experienced in the city between 2015–2018 represent one of the most severe urban droughts documented in modern history. Although governance arrangements and policy instruments have been revised in response to the crisis, insufficient attention has been paid to how water scarcity intersects with axes of marginalization and oppression. I address this gap by examining how low-income women of color in Cape Town’s townships navigated severe water scarcity from 2015 to 2023 from four scales of analysis: their bodies, their households, their communities, and their city. I argue that any attempt to govern (the lack of) water must engage with historical and enduring marginalization of these communities and recognize the specific scales in which access to water both enables and constrains their everyday lives and livelihoods. This matter requires governance reforms that must go beyond technical solutions to incorporate inclusive and responsive processes, such as including low-income residents in decision-making forums, acknowledging informal water practices, and investing in infrastructure that responds to lived realities rather than abstract metrics of efficiency.