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Student Spotlight: Deborah Cheng
Student Spotlight Directory
ERG PhD student, Debbie Cheng.
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Metered hoses are alternatives to fixed piped systems. |
"Urban Water Access in the Global South"
Soil remediation may be fun for a little while, but eventually, we want to connect our efforts to larger questions and concerns. After years of working solely on the technical issues related to a Superfund site, glossing over its social and political implications, Debbie came to ERG to identify and address some of the issues she’d been peripherally aware of in her years as an environmental consultant. ERG’s well-known interdisciplinary approach provided a forum for connecting critical technical work to the communities of people that it is meant to serve. And because at ERG, discussions on power transmission are likely to take place in the same small room as conversations about gender relationships, Debbie knew her PhD research on access to water in the Global South could approach the topic from several interesting angles. She is currently examining the role of small-scale water providers (SSWPs) in Manila, where they extend services to urban and peri-urban areas otherwise outside the reach of formal water utilities.
Estimates show that there are still more than one billion people worldwide without access to safe drinking water, and while the majority live in rural settings, there are specific challenges posed by inadequate urban infrastructure. In Manila, where water privatization began in 1997, SSWPs have played a critical but understated and underexamined role in both complementing and competing with formal utilities for provision of services in hard-to-reach areas. Aside from delivering water, some SSWPs have even reshaped definitions of access to water, allowing for more participatory mechanisms or the bundling of other services with water provision. Others are more entrepreneurial, and perhaps perpetuate existing disparities based on socioeconomic and geographical factors.
Tanker trucks provide water to some communities.
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Meter clustering represents one method of improving utility efficiency. |
A community in Tondo relies on hose delivery from bulk meter connections. |
Debbie’s dissertation research focuses on the ways in which various manifestations of SSWPs may alter existing inequalities in access to water, as well as the relationships between consumers and water providers. To help address those questions, she is examining differing definitions of access; the existing and changing power structure among stakeholders; and the ways in which conceptions of progress as put forth by the state, international finance organizations, private utility companies, SSWPs, and consumers coalesce or conflict with each other. Her research, mostly ethnographic and focusing on specific case studies, aims to address a gap in the literature, which currently centers upon questions of technical and financial efficiency. She further hopes that her findings may be useful for other rapidly-growing urban areas in the Global South where access to water may continue to pose logistical, economic, and political challenges for many years to come.
Funding through a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship has allowed Debbie to address critical language barriers. Additionally, a mini-grant from the Pacific Rim Research Program allowed Debbie to spend several months in communities around Manila that have found innovative approaches to the SSWP solution. ERG block grants, an internship with the California Public Utilities Commission, a Committee on Research Junior Faculty Research Grant (through Professor Isha Ray), and Graduate Student Instructorships with Professors Ananya Roy and Alastair Iles (both ERG affiliates) have all allowed Debbie to pursue the larger questions she began to identify as an environmental engineer. Debbie’s research has been assisted by the generous counsel of Professor Roy, Professor Iles, and her advisor, Professor Isha Ray, as well as others in Berkeley and Manila.
Debbie earned her Master’s degree from ERG in 2008. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from MIT. Prior to coming to ERG, she worked as an environmental engineer at Tetra Tech EMI and a Research Associate at Global Footprint Network. She is grateful for the opportunity to conduct her current research in her hometown of Manila.
10/16/09
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