Improving water security for the poor
Coastal water security
The challenge
In south-west coastal Bangladesh around eight million people live inside polders – areas of land enclosed by embankments. These polders were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s to protect communities from tidal flooding and salinity intrusion. While they have brought benefits, such as increased agricultural production and improved transport, badly functioning polders have led to a number of problems.
Communities living in the polders today face multiple water-related hazards, ranging from chronic salinity affecting drinking water quality and reducing agricultural yields, to frequent floods and cyclones that destroy livelihoods and wipe out agricultural production. The interaction of water hazards together with lack of water availability in adequate quantity and quality has a big impact on poverty.
Addressing these coastal water security challenges requires an understanding of the complex dynamics between water security, human wellbeing and economic growth.
The observatory
This study aims to improve understanding of how coastal water risks affect poverty, and to determine the best interventions for improving water security for the coastal poor. Ultimately, this research will help decision-makers make smarter investments in institutions and infrastructure, which not only reduce water risks, but also enable sustainable growth and improve lives.
We will develop a risk-based model of the dynamics of water, climate and poverty, and use the model to test the effectiveness of interventions. We will analyse trade-offs, combinations and sequences of investments such as resilient water infrastructure and drinking water supply systems.
Research questions
- How does water insecurity influence poverty outcomes?
- Which interventions help increase the resilience and water security of the coastal poor?
- What combination and sequences of interventions lead to water security in different contexts?
- Are the methods to appraise water security interventions transferable to other contexts, especially other coastal areas in Asia?
Research team
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology: Tanjila Akhter, Professor Sujit Kumar Bala, Professor Shah Alam Khan, Professor Shahjahan Mondal, Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Professor Munsur Rahman, Professor Mashfiqus Salehin, Md. Saif Uddin
UNICEF: Dara Johnston, Mohammed Monirul Alam
University of Dhaka: Professor Mahbuba Nasreen, Monishankar Sarkar, Sabrina Zaman
University of Oxford: Mohammed Sarfaraz Gani Adnan, Professor Jim Hall, Dr Rob Hope, Dr Sonia Ferdous Hoque
Video
News and blog
Potable water insecurity: Health concerns of the marginalised population in southwest coastal Bangladesh, April 2024
Pouring hope or pouring doubt – Navigating the aftermath of disasters in coastal Bangladesh November 2023
SafePani: A new model to secure safe drinking water for school children in coastal Bangladesh, March 2023
Gender and WASH in Emergency: What happens when a super cyclone hits at the height of a pandemic? September 2020
Water security in times of crisis: how COVID-19 is impacting the rural poor in Bangladesh and Kenya, May 2020
REACH Early-Career Researcher Feature: Understanding water-logging issues in coastal Bangladesh, July 2018
In search of acceptable, accessible and affordable drinking water services – A tale of households in coastal Bangladesh, January 2018
Water security and poverty in coastal Bangladesh: can modelling be of help? August 2017
Water on all sides: reflections on Bangladesh, July 2015
REACH Stories of Change
The SafePani model: Delivering safe drinking water in schools and healthcare centres in Bangladesh. REACH Story of Change, 2023
Sustainable management of sedimentation risks in coastal rivers in southwest Bangladesh. REACH Story of Change, 2023.
Publications
Akhter, T., Naz, M., Salehin, M., Arif, S. T., Hoque, S. F., Hope, R., & Rahman, M. R. (2023). Hydrogeologic constraints for drinking water security in southwest coastal Bangladesh: Implications for sustainable development goal 6.1. Water, 15(13), 2333. doi:10.3390/w15132333
Cost estimates for safe drinking water in schools and healthcare centres in Khulna District, Bangladesh. REACH Policy Brief. (2023). doi: 10.5287/ora-keewkkg6r
SafePani: Improving drinking water safety for schools and healthcare centres in Khulna district, Bangladesh. REACH Policy Brief. (2023). doi: 10.5287/ora-nrz0bjqyq
Rubinyi., S., Verschuur, J., Goldblatt, R., Gussenbauer, J., Kowarik, A., Mannix, J., Bottoms, B., Hall, J. (2022). High-resolution synthetic population mapping for quantifying disparities in disaster impacts: An application in the Bangladesh Coastal Zone. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2022.1033579
Uddin, M.S., Rahman, R. & Salehin, M. (2022). Sustainable management of sedimentation risks in coastal rivers in Southwest Bangladesh: Findings from REACH Khulna Observatory. REACH Policy Brief, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.5287/ora-5j1kx0pxw
Barbour, E., Adnan, M.S.G., Borgomeo, E., Paprocki, E., Khan, M.A.K., Salehin, M., & Hall, J. (2022). The unequal distribution of water risks and adaptation benefits in coastal Bangladesh Nature Sustainability 5, 294 – 302. doi: 10.1038/s41893-021-00846-9
Roman, O., Hoque, S. F., Ford, L., Salehin, M., Alam, M. M., Hope, R., & Hall, J. W. (2021). Optimizing rural drinking water supply infrastructure to account for spatial variations in groundwater quality and household welfare in coastal Bangladesh. Water Resources Research, 57, e2021WR029621. doi: 10.1029/2021WR029621
Hoque, S. (2021). Socio-spatial and seasonal dynamics of small, private water service providers in Khulna district, Bangladesh. International Journal of Water Resources Development 39: 89-112. doi: 10.1080/07900627.2021.1951179
Fischer, A., Hope, R., Thomson, P., Hoque, S.F., Alam, M.M., Charles, K.J., El Achi, N., Nowicki, S., Hakim, S.A.I., Islam, M.S., Salehin, M., Bradley, D., Ibrahim, M., & Chowdhury, M.E.H. (2021). Policy reform to deliver safely managed drinking water services for schools in rural Bangladesh REACH Working Paper 11
Policy reform for safe drinking water services for rural Bangladesh: The SafePani model, REACH Policy Brief (2021). doi: 10.5287/ora-o5avjmymp
Hoque, S.F., Hope, R., Alam, M.M., Charles, K., Salehin, M., Mahmud, Z.H., Akhter, T., Fischer, A., Johnston, D., Thomson, P., Zakaria, A., Hall, J., Roman, O., El Achi, N., and Jumlad, M.M. (2021). Drinking water services in coastal Bangladesh. REACH Working Paper 10. Oxford, UK: University of Oxford. doi: 10.5287/ora-dqrqpbrnj
Paszkowski, A., Goodbred Jr, S., Borgomeo, E., Khan, M.S.A., & Hall, J.W. (2021). Geomorphic change in the Ganges– Brahmaputra–Meghna delta, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, doi: 10.1038/s43017-021-00213-4.
Lázár, A.N., Nicholls, R., J., Hall, J.W., Barbour, E.J., and Haque, A. (2020). Contrasting development trajectories for coastal Bangladesh to the end of the century. Regional Environmental Change, 20:93. doi: 10.1007/s10113-020-01681-y
Fischer, A., Hope, R., Manandhar, A., Hoque, S., Foster, T., Hakim, A., Islam, M. S., Bradley, D. (2020). Risky responsibilities for rural drinking water institutions: The case of unregulated self-supply in Bangladesh. Global Environmental Change 65 (102152). doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102152
Adnan, M.S.G., Abdullah, A.Y.M., Dewan, A., Hall, J.W. (2020). The effects of changing land use andflood hazard on poverty in coastal Bangladesh. Land Use Policy, 99. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104868
Adnan, M.S.G., Talchabhadel, R., Nakagawa, H and Hall, J.W. (2020). The potential of Tidal River Management for flood alleviation in South Western Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment, 731.
Manandhar, A, Fisher, A., Bradley, D., Salehin, M., Islam, S., Hope, R., Clifton, D. (2020). Machine Learning to Evaluate Impacts of Flood Protection in Bangladesh, 1983-2014. Water MDPI, 12(2). doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138747
Hoque, S., and Hope, R. (2019). Examining the economics of affordability through water diaries in Coastal Bangladesh. Water Economics and Policy: doi: 10.1142/S2382624X19500115
Adnan, M., S., G., Haque, A., Hall, J. W. (2019). Have coastal embankments reduced flooding in Bangladesh? Science of the Total Environment: 682, 405-416. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.048
Hoque, S., Salehin, M., Arif, S. T., Akter, T., Naz, M., and Hope, R. (2019). A social-ecological analysis of drinking water risks in coastal Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment: 678. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.359
Korzenevica, M. (2019). Emerging themes on considering water equity. REACH Research Brief, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.5287/ora-6rjq7wpkx
REACH (2018). Resilient options for improving drinking water security in coastal Bangladesh. REACH Policy Brief. doi: 10.5287/ora-148epkn7m
Edoardo Borgomeo, Jim W. Hall & Mashfiqus Salehin (2017). Avoiding the water-poverty trap: insights from a conceptual human-water dynamical model for coastal Bangladesh, International Journal of Water Resources Development. 34: 900-922. doi: 10.1080/07900627.2017.1331842
REACH (2015) Country Diagnostic Report, Bangladesh. REACH Working Paper 1, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
