The proposed study will identify, compare and map changes in urban infrastrµcture delivery and local socio-political configurations. It seeks to understand the meaning and impact of water privatization for urban life, justice and citizenship participation. My thesis is that geographic differentiation in the level, quality and quantity of water and sanitation services will reconfigure geographies of difference and conflict. I investigate whether precipitous privatization may cement old-style apartheid and class geographies, and further reinforce discriminatory aspects of infrastructure distribution that characterized apartheid SA, making a meaningful transition to a more egalitarian social structure less likely.