Water Footprint and Governance Assessment for Sustainable Water Resource Management in Drought-Prone Barind Area, NW Bangladesh

Livelihood in agro-based Barind area in northwest Bangladesh is at risk due to moderate-extreme drought impacts. Assessment of water governance status is carried out considering the blue water footprint (WF). Here, the cropping pattern is dominated by rice and the majority of the farmers use groundwater for irrigation. Among crop varieties, Boro rice accounts for the highest WF (3109 l/kg) consuming 70% of water with little economic return, and all crops exceed global WF standards. The performance indicators like transparency, accountability, participation, social equity, environmental integrity, efficiency and effectiveness of government organizations (BMDA, BWDB, DPHE and LGED) and NGOs (DASCOH Foundation) show that the performance of DASCOH Foundation was ‘good’; BMDA and LGED ‘moderate’; while BWDB and DPHE ‘bad’, and should take rigorous action plans for scaling up in these issues. DASCOH Foundation has started to institutionalize IWRM, updating water laws etc. So, appropriate strategies for governance performance due to sustainable resource management should be given priority with enabling environment, institutions, and instruments.