Privatizing water, producing scarcity: The Yorkshire drought of 1995

The Yorkshire drought of 1995 was the most extreme climate event faced by t he English and Welsh water industry since its privatization in 1989. As an emblem of crisis in privatized water management, and as a potential signal of climate change, the 1995 drought hits motivated change in water regulati on and management. In this paper I challenge conventional interpretations o f the 1995 water supply crisis as a natural hazard or as a result of manage rial ineptitude. Drought is conceptualized as the production of scarcity, a n outcome of three interrelated practices: meteorological modeling, demand forecasting, and corporate restructuring and the regulatory "game." These p ractices are situated within an analysis of the context of;he regulatory im plications of the privatization of the water industry in 1989. I explore th e simultaneously natural, social, and discursive elements of water scarcity and situate them within an analysis of privatization as regulation, rather than deregulation. This analysis brings insights developed in debates over "real" regulation and regulation theory to bear on nature-society analysis , while extending this debate through theorizing regulation as, in part, a discursive practice. The ensuing rereading of drought challenges convention al interpretations of environmental crisis, raises questions about the impl ications of water industry privatization, and emphasizes the need to accoun t for the role of the state and the intricacies of "real" regulation in ana lyses of resource management.