Abstract:
Water plays an Important role in socio.economic development and ecosystem sustenance,
At the same time, water-related adversities, hazards and inequity deter the development of
the vulnerable communities, mostly the poor. In many developing countries, the
development is hindered and poverty reduction drorts are unsuccessful since the
Importance of water I~ not effectively addressed in policy and decision making. The
conventional human development or poverty indicators do no! adequately reflect this
water-related poverty or 'water poverty', This study used a 'Water Poverty Index (WPI)' to
assess the changes in different aspects of water poverty resulting /Tom implementation of
water resources development projects. In Bangladesh, structural and non-structural
intervention, for water sector developmenl are being attempted to resolve local waterrelated
problems with a view to reducing poverty. However, these Interventions have been
observed to have both positive and negative socio-economic impacts. The actual impacts in
terms of the individual walcr poverty components are unknown. In this study, two smallscale
Water Conservation (We) and Flood Control and Drainage (FeD) projects were
selected to assess their water poverty status. Two control sites were also ,elected to
evaluate the impact of project interventions. The WPI Is composed of five component>'
Resouree. Access, Capacity, Use and Environment. Subcomponents of these five
components were identified based on literature studies and FGDs. These slIbcomponents
represent the physical availability of water, and major soeio-cconomic and environmental
conditions at the study sites. The WPls for the project and control sites were evaluated
from the wcighted average vallie" of Ihe subcomponents obtained through field
investigations and secondary data analy,>ls. Comparison of the WPls of lhe project and
control ~iles indicate that 'Capacity' and 'Use', particularly for irrigation purpo,es, have
improved due to structural interventions of the projects while 'Resources' have not
changed significantly, The overall WPI has improved by about 30% and 9% in the
Narayankhali fCD and Boronlirpur WC subprojects, respectively. The study also indicates
that there is scope to improve the water poverty status by giving attention 10 education,
farmers' training, safe water and ,anitation access, increased participation of the women in
Water Management Cooperative Associations (WMCA), and water use conflict reduction.
