Across the world, desalinization, wastewater recycling, and rainwater collection are just a few of the new technological and social processes transforming human–water relations in urban areas. Although rainwater collection is an ancient technology, I argue that its formalization as a water conservation technology in American cities brings into being novel resources and subjectivities. By analyzing the implementation of rainwater collection systems in Tucson, Arizona, I explore how precipitation and urban residents become internally related through their situated engagements in a water conservation program. The analysis presented in this article draws on ethnographic insights from the everyday lived experiences of rainwater management in urban households as well as in policy analysis, landscape surveys, and semistructured interviews with rainwater harvesters, experts, and decision makers. I demonstrate how, despite their involvement in a state‐funded water conservation program, rainwater harvesters are engaging in a new economic relationship with water, not to maximize efficiency in a place of scarcity (i.e., to reduce their potable water consumption), but rather to self‐fashion themselves into what they understand to be ethical subjects in a place of scarcity. Through this case study, I thus begin to ethnographically sketch the new hydrosocial relations emerging as cities confront the dual challenges of urban growth and climate change.

中文翻译：

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变成雨水：沙漠城市的水社会关系和主观性研究

在世界范围内，脱盐，废水回收和雨水收集只是改变城市地区人与水关系的一些新技术和社会过程。尽管雨水收集是一项古老的技术，但我认为将雨水收集作为一种节水技术在美国城市中的形式化使其成为新颖的资源和主观性。通过分析亚利桑那州图森市雨水收集系统的实施情况，我探索了降水和城市居民如何通过其参与节约用水计划而在内部建立联系。本文提供的分析借鉴了城市家庭雨水管理的日常生活经验以及政策分析，景观调查，以及雨水收集器，专家和决策者的半结构化访谈。我展示了雨水收集器尽管参与了国家资助的节水计划，但如何与水建立新的经济关系，而不是在稀缺的地方最大程度地提高效率（即减少饮用水的消耗），而是自我塑造自己成为稀缺之地的道德主体。因此，通过这个案例研究，我将开始在人种学上勾勒出随着城市面临城市增长和气候变化的双重挑战而出现的新的水社会关系。不是在稀缺的地方最大化效率（即减少他们的饮用水消耗），而是自我塑造自己在稀缺的地方成为他们认为是道德主体的领域。因此，通过这个案例研究，我将开始在人种学上勾勒出随着城市面临城市增长和气候变化的双重挑战而出现的新的水社会关系。不是在稀缺的地方最大化效率（即减少他们的饮用水消耗），而是自我塑造自己在稀缺的地方成为他们认为是道德主体的领域。因此，通过这个案例研究，我将开始在人种学上勾勒出随着城市面临城市增长和气候变化的双重挑战而出现的新的水社会关系。