WaVe

The “WaVe” project investigates distribution conflicts in the German water supply as a consequence of specific water management decisions. Referring to considerations based in property and conflict sociology, the project uses a case study to pursue the question of how conflicts between the private-public and urban-rural water supply pass off as social practice. The conflict-sociological analysis reconstructs the conditions and consequences of current water management decisions, examines positions regarding the distribution fairness of the basic good that is water, and works out how these particular positions develop as part of a conflict of values and interests in light of climate change.

As a revision of usage rights that form the basis of water management decisions has become necessary, the analysis of these revisions is a further goal of the case study. Here, “WaVe” especially takes into account the struggle for new assessment methods of existing water resources. This struggle follows from the impact on the ecosystems that has become apparent since the three drought years. The pilot study contributes to Germany’s first scientific tracing of the social brisance of water distribution conflicts that is becoming apparent already today, and to the laying of a sociological foundation for water management decisions. Additionally, it helps future water management decisions that are made necessary by climate change and the continuous trend of urbanization.