Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

A bridge over troubled waters

Nature Sustainability volume 5, page 92 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

To the Editor — In a recent (August 2021) Editorial1, the editors of Nature Sustainability argue that little innovative research seems to emerge in water studies. They invite the community to reinvent what they see as a ‘stagnant’ field. Central to their argument is the statement that “water studies as a field may have largely given up on historical context and institutional change ... as [it] has become more quantified and technically driven, it has also become less grounded”.

While we — a too homogeneous subset of critical water researchers — agree that much water science still has a functionalist orientation and a distinct preference for quantification, we find this statement rather surprising as there is actually plenty of research, to use the editors’ terms, on “the messy institutions, norms and processes that underlie our relationship ... with water”.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Nat. Sustain. 4, 659 (2021).

  2. Ertsen, M. Improvising Planned Development on the Gezira Plain, Sudan, 1900–1980 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

  3. Yates, J. S., Harris, L. & Wilson, N. J. Environ. Plan. D 35, 787–815 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Linton, J. & Budds, J. Geoforum 57, 170–180 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Boelens, R., Hoogesteger, J., Swyngedouw, E., Vos, J. & Wester, P. Water Int. 41, 1–14 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Venot, J. P., Kuper, M. & Zwarteveen, M. Drip Irrigation for Agriculture: Untold Stories of Efficiency, Innovation and Development (Routledge, 2017).

  7. Harrison, E. & Mdee, A. Third World Quart. 39, 2126–2141 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Molle, F. Geoforum 40, 484–494 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lankford, B. et al. Glob. Environ. Change 65, 102182 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zeitoun, M. et al. Glob. Environ. Change 39, 143–154 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Whaley, K., Cleaver, F. & Mwathuhga, E. World Dev. 138, 105286 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ahlers, R., Cleaver, F., Rusca, M. & Schwartz, K. Water Altern. 7, 1–14 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Woodhouse, P. et al. J. Peasant Stud. 44, 213–233 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zwarteveen, M. et al. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 49, 88–97 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Boelens, R., Perreault, T. & Vos, J. Water Justice (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR GEAU, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Jean-Philippe Venot & François Molle

  2. WRM Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jeroen Vos, Gert Jan Veldwisch & Rutgerd Boelens

  3. Water Governance Department, IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands

    Margreet Zwarteveen, Jeltsje Kemerink-Seyoum, Michelle Kooy & Klaas Schwartz

  4. UMR GEAU, CIRAD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Marcel Kuper

  5. water@leeds, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Anna Mdee

  6. Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands

    Maurits Ertsen

  7. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Frances Cleaver

  8. School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Bruce Lankford

  9. SEED, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Larry Swatuk

  10. GEOLAB, University of Limoges, Limoges, France

    Jamie Linton

  11. IRS, GRSJ, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Leila M. Harris

Authors
  1. Jean-Philippe Venot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeroen Vos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. François Molle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Margreet Zwarteveen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gert Jan Veldwisch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Marcel Kuper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Anna Mdee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Maurits Ertsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Rutgerd Boelens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Frances Cleaver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Bruce Lankford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Larry Swatuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Jamie Linton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Leila M. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Jeltsje Kemerink-Seyoum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Michelle Kooy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Klaas Schwartz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Philippe Venot.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Venot, JP., Vos, J., Molle, F. et al. A bridge over troubled waters. Nat Sustain 5, 92 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00835-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00835-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene