Abstract

CERVANTES GARCIA, Johanna Alexandra. If you're not going to drink the water, let it flow away. The controversy over the quality of water in Bogotá (2012-2013). Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.39, n.2, pp.89-113. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v39n2.58967.

This topic is analysed through an sts understanding of public controversies and the coproduction of science and society in the course of public sociotechnical debates. This approach allows us to recognise how "science", "technology" and "society" are not merely contingently interdependent but are mutually constitutive. If the Spanish saying quoted in the title suggests that we should not involve ourselves in matters that do not concern us, in this analysis we are doing the exact opposite: collecting the "water" of the controversy, not letting it flow away. In the first part, we name the actors who participated and their different positions. In the second, we examine the establishment of the indice de riesgo de la calidad del agua (IRCA) as a non-human actor and in the third we examine the rhetorical strategies employed by the most important actors. Finally, in the fourth and fifth sections, we show how the controversy was built through the joint actions of IRCA, the media and scientists.

Keywords : Water quality; standards; controversy; media; publics.

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