The researchers surveyed sites and conducted in-person semi-formal interviews with both water users (need-driven perspectives) and water providers (regulated and unregulated or state-run; policy-driven perspectives) in Bangalore, India, and Nakuru, Kenya. They assessed the pathways to converge these perspectives to move these and other cities like them toward equitable water provisioning.

Rapidly expanding cities such as Bangalore and Nakuru face increased water demand, while limited and deteriorating infrastructure challenges water service providers to secure and distribute water supply evenly and ensure quality. Decentralized, informal solutions and systems in the two cities bridge these water provisioning challenges, often as the main method through which populations meet their water needs. These “gridless water configurations” are not thoroughly regulated, exacerbating existing inequalities.

Leadership from policymakers is needed to address the complexity of urban water challenges and create an enabling environmental for local participation in driving equitable urban water development. Urban water planning in Bangalore and Nakuru should document and take into account gridless water configurations, which are currently unmonitored, to avoid depleting critical water resources such as groundwater and to limit inequality in water access as the cities urbanize. Where gridless water configurations are most effective, they should be incorporated into urban water plans.