Lia Bryant - Water and Rural Communities: Local Politics, Meaning and Place

Lia Bryant
with Jodie George

First published 2016

by Routledge

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2016 Lia Bryant and Jodie George

The right of Lia Bryant and Jodie George to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Bryant, Lia, author. | George, Jodie, author.

Title: Water and rural communities : local politics, meaning and place / Lia Bryant with Jodie George.

Description: London; New York : Routledge, [2016] | Series: Earthscan studies in water resource management | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016005698 | ISBN 9780415723589 (hbk) | ISBN 9781315857602 (ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: Water-supply--Political aspects--Australia--Renmark (S.A.) Water-supply--Political aspects--California--Fresno. | Water rights--Australia--Renmark (S.A.) | Water rights--California--Fresno. | Irrigation farming--Political aspects--Australia--Renmark (S.A.) | Irrigation farming--Political aspects--California--Fresno. | Renmark (S.A.)--Politics and government. | Freson (Calif.)--Politics and government.

Classification: LCC HD1700.R46 B78 2016 | DDC 333.91009794/83--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016005698

ISBN: 978-0-415-72358-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-85760-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Times

by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby

For Tim Bryant

For James and Janice Robar

Thank you to Dr Jodie George for authoring and for providing feedback and discussion in relation to the overall book.

Many thanks to Dr Kris Clarke for hosting us in Fresno and assisting us with accessing participants. Many thanks to the participants from the Riverland in South Australia, the Renmark Irrigation Trust, Australia and the participants from Central California, USA.

We acknowledge the International Journal of Water Resources Development for permission to use Bryant, L. and George, J., 2016. Examining uncertainty and trust among irrigators and regulatory bodies in the Murray-Darling basin. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 32(1), pp.102-115.

Thank you to Dr Bridget Garnham for your assistance and support, to Katerina Bryant and Mathew Drogemuller for assistance with referencing and editing.

The South Australia data was collected as part of an Australian Research Council Grant and Central Californian data collection was funded by the University of South Australia.

Water has been a subject of cultural thought and representation over centuries across diverse continents. It is used and represented in art, philosophy, religion and literature. Past and contemporary depictions and imaginaries of water, its surfaces and reflections, its depth and underworlds, have shaped ways of living with, and dreaming about, rivers, oceans, streams, rain, snow and ice. The Muse de LOrangerie in Paris became one such place for dreaming when, after World War I, Monet donated to the state his canvases of lakes and water lilies in order to create a place of repose in a bustling city. These canvases continue to fill the curvaceous walls of the museum, reminding of us of gentle and lavish waves, and as such capture common metaphoric meanings of water as renewing, calming and cleansing. There are also many compelling examples of water, art and depictions of human and non-human well-being found in past and contemporary Australian Indigenous art. Paintings on rock and canvas hold cultural stories, which are woven into images of place, with the most recurring being spiral lines representing running water, circular forms recording the presence of water holes and Rainbow Serpents who reside in waterholes to regenerate land. Together these depictions form a map but also a spiritual place a story of the dreaming.