Scarce ground water

Wishes

‘Shifting grounds’ is going to look, among other things, at scenarios of how to deal with the availability of groundwater. On the one hand, there is the demand from the city, on the other hand, there is a need of sustainable water facility for the inhabitants of the peri-urban area. We’re now working on a definite proposal for the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and its ‘WOTRO Science for Global Development’ programmes. But to make sure that the project is designed and implemented in accordance with everyone’s wishes, we already received funds to organise a stakeholder workshop. In this way we can trace the wishes of the different stakeholders and, on this basis, decide together how the project should look like.

Water management

Despite the delay, we have a good consultation with all stakeholders. Many wishes emerge, all very helpful for writing the definite proposal. The singularity and plus of this project is that it not only has a scientific, but also a socio-economic purpose. During the workshop, the stakeholders express their entousiasm about te The Negotiated Approach (NA), a method embraced by Both ENDS in which stakeholders negotiate on the best way to manage natural resources. Earlier, in Dhaka, scientists and government officials had already done the same.

Captured

This time, for once, I barely travel in and through Bangladesh; the workshops are inside. Fortunately, on the way back from Khulna to the airport in Jessore, we pay a short visit to a local women’s organisation. It’s an interesting meeting. A group of highly assertive (young) women tells us about how their drinking water facility is threatened to be captured by KWASA, the big public drinking water company of Khulna. Due to the lowering water level and the increasing salinization of the groundwater, the company has started looking for new resources to develop. They thought they could develop one in Phultala, but after wide civic resistance the company had to close its resources and pipelines. The women demand water facilities from groundwater to be ensured for everyone in the near future, but also on the long term. This is going to be an interesting study!