The nature and determining factors of inter-household water transfers in Kabul, Afghanistan: a qualitative study

Inter-household water transfer is a common practice in water-scarce regions where households may rely on their neighbors or broader community to access water. However, the literature on inter-household water transfers is dominated by the notion of “borrowing,” while the factors influencing this socially conditioned form of water access are not well understood. This is problematic as it can skew inferences and bias policies and interventions. Our qualitative study, based on 68 semi-structured interviews with water users in two peri-urban areas in Kabul, aimed to examine the nature and underlying factors of inter-household water transfer practices. We found that these practices are dominated by sharing and gifting–rather than “borrowing.” Water availability (and especially the impact of droughts), transfer costs, frequency of requests, the period over which they operate, and religious beliefs played key roles in determining the dynamic pattern of inter-household water transfers. Considered from the behavioral science perspective of the COM-B framework, social and physical opportunity were the strongest drivers of water transfers. The findings of this study have important conceptual and practical implications. Conceptually, pervasive and pragmatic water sharing/gifting in the absence of explicit “borrowing” suggests that common framings of water transfers through notions of the moral economy or generalized reciprocity may be misdirected. In practical terms, the nature and dynamics of such transfers calls for a rethinking of large-scale international water access surveys, and for establishing the local nature of such context-sensitive and socially conditioned behaviors before designing interventions aimed at combating water scarcity.