ABSTRACT
Groundwater salinity is one of the most complex processes associated with local or regional geological features, climatic conditions, and water use practices. The use and consumption of saline groundwater has serious health implications for many communities living along the coastline of India. However, very little is known about how the salinity of groundwater may turn into a daily struggle, especially how it interacts with human bodies and affects the emotions of people exposed to it through daily use. This chapter analyzes how groundwater salinity, along with other environmental and chemical contaminants, affects bodily experiences and emotions in the coastal village of Lodhva, Gujarat. Drawing from feminist political ecology, the chapter narrates the experiences of different community members affected by groundwater salinity. Findings indicate how the struggle to access, use, and distribute groundwater is mediated through bodily experiences – burns, rashes, wounds, and sores on eyes, hands, legs, and private organs. Building upon these narratives, the chapter analyzes how emotions are often centered around the materiality of the body, wherein the body presents as a source of vulnerability, as it is through the body that one becomes vulnerable to the material environment – in this case the salinity of water.
