ABSTRACT
The ‘Boaters’ of London and the South East of England are an itinerant boat-dwelling population. Despite living on a boat seeming to mean utmost freedom, they are in fact compelled by an ambiguous piece of legislation to move to a new mooring every 14 days. The enforcement of this rule creates a situation whereby the Boaters are subjected to the pressure to move on, if not to settle down on land. They are, therefore, in conflict with Canal and River Trust (CaRT), 2 whose responsibility it is to provide necessary services for the Boaters and to enforce the law that governs their movements. This chapter introduces two case studies; first, the vandalism of a water point and waste disposal site in East London; second, the prevention of Boaters from accessing drinking water taps during the period of the 2012 Olympic Games. These case studies are used to demonstrate the role that domestic water provision can have in ‘tying down’ itinerant populations for the purposes of governing them and making their mobile lives harder to maintain.
