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Narratives of water disconnection: Navigating regulatory tensions in the Netherlands

Samara López-Ruiz
Institute of Sustainable Processes, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Engineering, University of Valladolid, Spain; samaralr@uva.es

Klaas Schwartz
IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; k.schwartz@un-ihe.org

Gabriela Cuadrado-Quesada
IHE-Delft, Delft, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; g.quesada@un-ihe.org

ABSTRACT: This article examines how Dutch water utilities implement and justify disconnection policies under the conflicting imperatives of cost recovery and the human right to water. Based on 12 semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, it identifies 3 dominant narratives – technocratic, socially engaged, and human rights-based; it then maps these along two dimensions: the framing of water and the interpretation of non-payment. Despite operating within a uniform legal framework, utilities interpret and apply practices differently, reflecting variations in organisational contexts and discursive understandings of responsibility and vulnerability. The analysis shows how actors engage in discursive manoeuvring, using strategic ambiguity to reconcile regulatory obligations with social concerns. These findings challenge assumptions of technocratic neutrality and demonstrate how discretion and institutional discourse shape regulatory practice. The study contributes to regulatory governance debates by showing how formal compliance can coexists with informal adaptation in the provision of essential services.

KEYWORDS: Discursive institutionalism, human right to water, policy implementation, regulatory governance, water disconnections, the Netherlands