ABSTRACT
Water, a socio-natural phenomenon, is shaped by and shapes the geopolitics of communities in a myriad of complex ways. For social and cultural geography, theorisations of ‘wet geographies’ have been relatively new. To GDWHµZHWJHRJUDSKLHV¶KDYHIRFXVHGRQRFHDQVDQGZHVWHUQNQRZOHGJHVHJ $QGHUVRQDQG3HWHUV/LQWRQ6WHLQEHUJEXWIHZKDYH examined rivers and groundwater in relation to communities. There is little in-depth exploration of how communities, particularly in the global north, come into being, shift and change in relation to water politics. 7KLV ERRN KDV EHJXQ DQ XQ¿QLVKHG VWRU\ RI ZDWHU DQG LUULJDWLRQ
FRPPXQLWLHV XQ¿QLVKHG EHFDXVH FRPPXQLWLHV DQG ZDWHUODQGVFDSHV DUH always in the process of becoming. Any story about water and the local will always be situated, partial, and fragmented. Thus, this text captures IUDJPHQWHGUHDOPVRIPHPRU\DQGNQRZLQJLQUHODWLRQWRWKHGH¿QLQJDQG UHGH¿QLQJRIGURXJKWDVOLYHGLQWZRUXUDOVLWHVRQHLQWKHGLVWULFWRI&HQWUDO California and the other in the Riverland, South Australia. These communities share similarities in the produce grown and a reliance upon LUULJDWLRQLQDULGFOLPDWHVDQGKROGHFRQRPLFVLJQL¿FDQFHIRUWKHLUQDWLRQDO HFRQRPLHV&KDSWHU
In the theatre of water politics, both sites share a recalling of the past through the continuous telling of histories to make sense of the present FLUFXPVWDQFHVRIGURXJKWDQGQHHGVIRUZDWHUDOORFDWLRQ&KDSWHUVDQG They both show a collectivity among producers in their demands to access DQGRZQZDWHU&KDSWHUVDQG7KLVFROOHFWLYLW\LVIXUWKHUIRUJHGLQWKH way farmers perceive their place nationally in the context of nearby cities and other states who have access to the same water system. Their unity is formed from a shared position of bargaining with federal and state bodies to retain ZKDW LVXQGHUVWRRGDV WKHLU ULJKW WRZDWHU &KDSWHUVDQG$W WKHVDPH time, fracture, disenchantment, contestation and individualised modes of ZDWHU SUDFWLFH VKDUH WKLV WKHDWUH &KDSWHUV DQG +LVWRULFDO IRUFHV DQG wealth shape uneven risk of weathering drought and through uneven exposure to risk, cracks in the surface of unity appear. The diversity among farmers in
economic and social living conditions shapes their ability to remain viable during drought. Factors shaping viability include scale of enterprise and their SK\VLFDOSODFHPHQWDORQJWKHULYHUZKLFKGHWHUPLQHVµ¿UVWLQWLPHULJKWV¶WR water access in the USA. These individualised demands for water access have been maintained through litigious action by relatively wealthier farmers and corporations. In Australia, unity is a response to threat, uncertainty and risk and during the breaking of the drought individualised understandings of water and competition between irrigators become pronounced.
