Water governance must move beyond 'techno-fixes': Experts

Policymakers should move beyond engineering-heavy "techno-fixes" and adopt water governance rooted in social justice, gender equity and ecological rights, experts said at the 11th International Water Conference yesterday (20 January).

"Water governance is ultimately about power, survival and inequality. Water decides people's lives long before policy does," ActionAid Bangladesh Country Director Farah Kabir said at the two-day virtual conference titled "Reimagining Water Governance for Just and Sustainable Futures", organised by ActionAid Bangladesh.

Sharing an anecdote from a coastal village, Farah Kabir said, "A woman once told me, 'Water decides my day before I do.' If the pond turns saline, she walks further; if floods arrive, work stops. This is governance in reality – who decides, who adapts and who bears the cost.

The conference followed Bangladesh's accession to the UN Water Convention in 2025, the first country in South Asia to join the framework. 
 

Photo: Courtesy

While calling the move a milestone, Kabir cautioned that legal commitments alone are insufficient. "Accession is not transformation. People's voices must be engaged from the beginning, not merely consulted at the end," she said.

In the keynote session on "Water Justice and Governance," Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Alternatives, said water must be understood beyond chemistry. 

"Water is not just H₂O," he said. "We should define it as W = H₂O + P4 – pollution, power, politics and profit." 

He also suggested a local accountability system where officials would be held responsible for water quality outcomes.

Sakib Mahmud, assistant chief of the National River Conservation Commission, said 1,415 rivers have been identified nationwide, but many are facing severe degradation. 

"In urban areas such as Dinajpur and Naogaon, we have detected 'dead zones' where dissolved oxygen levels are too low to sustain aquatic life," he said. 

He also pointed to mismanagement in dredging projects, including in Kurigram, saying dredged soil is often dumped back into rivers, creating new shoals.

ActionAid Bangladesh's Abul Kalam Azad said coal-fired power plants are worsening water insecurity, citing high water use by the Payra plant and urging a phase-down in water-stressed regions.

Experts also highlighted exclusion in decision-making. "Women and marginal farmers must be included as a mandatory requirement in governance structures," said Dr Champa M Navaratne, professor emeritus at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.

The first day ended with a call for a hydro-social approach, linking water management with land use, industrial development and population planning.