ABSTRACT
Over the last few years, urban water utilities have, as a result of federal and international initiatives, been compelled to start projects to provide continuous water supply to all urban residents. A profound contention marks such initiatives. On the one hand, administrators and bureaucrats see continuous water supply as a necessary marker of world-class cities. On the other, water engineers see continuous water supply as difficult, if not impossible. This article focuses on the stakes of this debate and the ways in which Mumbai’s hydraulic engineers work with the everyday challenges that water supply presents. Why are hydraulic engineers, who spend their professional lives operating and maintaining the infrastructures of urban water, opposed to its continuous passage? Why are those pushing for urban ‘reforms’ so invested in 24-hours-a-day water supply? And finally, what does the failure of 24/7 water supply say about the ways in which the authority to govern and manage infrastructure is produced and maintained in Indian cities?
