Competence under constraint: Maintenance work and the governance of stability in regulated water infrastructure

Abstract

Regulated infrastructure systems increasingly operate beyond their original design horizons, relying on sustained technical work to maintain compliance, reliability, and service continuity. In sectors such as water, governance frameworks emphasise measurable outcomes and performance indicators, yet offer limited visibility into the sustaining practices that underpin stability. This paper examines how maintenance work and expertise are represented within the governance documentation of regulated water infrastructure in Australia and the United States. Drawing on qualitative documentary analysis of regulatory, audit, and performance reports, the study identifies four consistent patterns: system stability is presented as an achieved state rather than an ongoing accomplishment; maintenance work becomes textually visible primarily during escalation rather than routine operations; outcome-oriented reporting compresses sustaining labour into aggregate indicators; and documentary representation privileges managerial and professional expertise over experiential, trade-based knowledge.

The paper introduces the concept of competence under constraint to characterise the structural conditions under which maintenance professionals exercise skilled, continuous, and adaptive work within governance regimes that both depend upon and limit the articulation of their expertise. Unlike accounts of invisible work or articulation work, this concept foregrounds the coupling of operational dependence and representational restriction within accountability systems: governance formats themselves narrow what counts as valid evidence of competence. The contribution lies in identifying outcome-oriented regulatory governance as a mechanism through which sustaining competence is not merely overlooked but rendered weakly visible. By situating maintenance expertise within metricised accountability systems, the analysis clarifies how infrastructure can appear stable while increasingly reliant on intensifying but weakly documented forms of operational competence. The findings have implications for governance design, workforce sustainability, and infrastructure resilience.