The effects of water insecurity and emotional distress on civic action for improved water infrastructure in rural South Africa
Open accessAbstract
The South African constitution ratifies water as a human right. Yet millions of citizens remain disconnected from the national water infrastructure. Drawing on data collected in 2013–2014 from women in northern South Africa, this study explores “water citizenship”—individual civic engagement related to improving water service provision. Literature indicates that water insecurity is associated with emotional distress and that water‐related emotional distress influences citizen engagement. I extend these lines of research by assessing the connection that water insecurity and emotional distress may collectively have with civic engagement to improve access to water infrastructure.
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People felt distressed and embarrassed about their water shortage situations and regarding wasting time or money to acquire water.
“These supported the findings by Bulled (2017) who found that people felt distressed and embarrassed about their water shortage situations and regarding wasting time or money to acquire water.”
From Psychological effects of water scarcity on community members: a case study of Lephalale municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa (2025) · cites this paper as Bulled (2017)
The Findings > Emotional Distress passage reports worry, fear, and annoyance about water quality and occasional embarrassment about water situations. But it says few participants expressed distress about wasting time or money to acquire water, contrary to that part of the citing sentence. The supplied copy gives no page number for the passage. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWater scarcity contributes to conflicts among communities.
“More previous literature report that water scarcity contributes to conflicts amongst communities (Bulled, 2017; Gleick, 2014; Smith, 2017).”
From Psychological effects of water scarcity on community members: a case study of Lephalale municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa (2025) · cites this paper as Bulled, 2017
The Field Site section describes water insecurity in Dzimauli, but says it concerned water quality rather than quantity and describes communities sharing pipes. The Background and Discussion sections address emotional distress and civic action, not conflict among communities. Searches for conflict and disputes between villages found no passage linking water scarcity to intercommunity conflict; page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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Cited by
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Mushavi, R. C., Burns, B. F. O., Kakuhikire, B., Owembabazi, M., Vořechovská, D., McDonough, A. Q., Cooper-Vince, C. E., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J. D., Bangsberg, D. R., et al. (2020) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112561 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
“As one of the most fundamental forms of resource or material insecurity, water insecurity can produce profound psychological or emotional distress(9, 12-16).”
BackgroundSeretlo-Rangata, M. L., Sodi, T., & Govender, S. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1537992 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bulled, N.
- Affiliations
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bulled, Nicola
- ORCID
- Bulled, Nicola
- Venue
- Medical Anthropology Quarterly
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-01-18
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 133-154
- ISSN
- 0745-5194 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1387
- PMC
- PMC4919250
- OpenAlex
- W2236597613
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 4.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Medical Anthropology Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Fogarty International Center (D43TW009359)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Resource Management and Quality
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal Issues in South Africa
- Keywords
- water insecurity, emotional distress, citizen participation, water infrastructure, water as a human right, women, rural South Africa, water supply
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Educational Status, Female, Food Supply, Humans, Middle Aged, Poverty, Rural Population, South Africa, Stress, Psychological, Water Supply, Anthropology, Medical
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