Building a Water Secure Future: A Catalogue of World Bank Group Knowledge Products

Product Overview

The Integrated Storage Planning Framework helps governments and practitioners identify and fulfill water storage needs across sectors—energy, water supply, a griculture, and disaster risk management. It draws on the World Bank’s decades of global experience with integrated water resource management and promotes multi-sectoral solutions to the water storage gap, taking approaches that integrate needs and opportunities across the whole system, including natural, built, and hybrid storage, to support many instead of few, for generations to come. 

Why This Matters

Globally, there is a growing mismatch between where water is naturally available and where it is needed, compounded by aging infrastructure, declining freshwater storage, and rising demand. Climate change further exacerbates these challenges by increasing variability and the frequency of extreme events. The Framework aims to address the storage gap in a way that is efficient while being cognizant of the environmental and social risks that are inherent in water resources planning and development. It provides a systematic process for early identification and consideration of potential opportunities and trade-offs that are often only given attention after significant sums have been invested in project preparation and some design choices have already been made. The framework acts as a guide and is adaptable to specific settings, depending on needs, data availability, and how much storage planning has already taken place. 

Key Highlights/Impact

The Integrated Storage Planning Framework marks a paradigm shift in water storage planning by integrating natural, built, and hybrid solutions, enabling countries to manage water holistically for sustainability and resilience, and bridging gaps between water resources and supply sectors. It promotes storage solutions that are fit-for-purpose and selected based on local needs rather than technological preference.

Since the launch of the framework, the World Bank’s Global Department for Water has dedicated significant resources to put the Framework into action, including advice to dozens of projects across regions to promote more integrated approaches to water storage with built and natural storage working in concert and looking at new storage together with investments to get more from existing storage.

Country Examples

• India: The Framework was used to inform a deep dive on water storage, which is informing the India Country Climate and Development Report

• Nepal: A national water storage overview for Nepal was carried out, informed by the Framework

• Partnership with the Nature Conservancy (TNC): With support from experts at TNC, World Bank teams in have received training and tailored project advice on incorporate nature-based storage solutions into client engagements, including:

⁃ Somalia: Identification of watershed management and other small nature-based storage options

⁃ Chile: Regulatory reform to support nature-based solutions for water storage

Key Contacts

• Eileen Burke, Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, eburke@worldbank.org

• Kimberly Lyon, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, klyon@worldbank.org

Product Overview

The World Bank Drought Bulletins are compact, quarterly updates that provide timely, region-specific insights into drought and associated socioeconomic risks. Tailored for World Bank teams, these bulletins combine climate and other environmental data with socioeconomic indicators to support informed decision-making on project design, resource allocation, and emergency preparedness. Each bulletin offers a snapshot of current and near-future drought conditions, contextualized with data on vulnerability and exposure to help anticipate compounding and cascading risks. The drought bulletins serve as both an early warning tool and a strategic entry point for deeper analysis and early action. 

Why This Matters

Some countries have multiple Drought Early Warning Information Systems (DEWIS), while others have none, leading to fragmented responses and missed opportunities for early action and resilience-building. Existing drought risk reports tend to be very technical and can often not be directly related to World Bank priorities and operations. In addition, drought risk tends to be managed in isolation by different agencies.

The drought bulletins link state-of-the-art drought risk monitoring to socioeconomic vulnerabilities such as population exposure, agricultural production, food prices, and groundwater depletion. By integrating drought hazard data with contextual risk analysis, the bulletins help overcome siloed approaches and promote coordinated, cross-sectoral planning and response. 

Key Highlights/Impact

• Global Combined Drought Indicator (GCDI): Since there is no single “best” variable for drought monitoring, the bulletins follow a “convergence of evidence” logic. Developed in collaboration with the US National Drought Mitigation Center, the GCDI integrates satellite-derived and modeled data on rainfall, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and vegetation health to provide a robust, multi-dimensional view of emerging drought conditions.

• Comprehensive, but compact Updates: Bulletins are shared with World Bank staff quarterly to inform strategic discussions, planning, and potential early actions.

• On-Demand Deep Dives: Regional and country directors can request tailored drought briefings to support operational decisions and country engagement.

• Cross-Team Collaboration: The bulletins inform other World Bank initiatives, such as the Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS) and the Next Generation Drought Index initiative of the Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Program (FCI), ensuring alignment with broader resilience and financing strategies. 

Key Contacts

• Nathan Engle, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, nengle@worldbank.org

• Gabriel Sidman, Water Specialist, gsidman@worldbank.org

• Markus Enenkel, ET Consultant, menenkel@worldbank.org

Product Overview

The EPIC Response Framework is a comprehensive approach that helps governments lead a whole-of-society effort to manage floods and droughts. It encourages countries to view floods and droughts as interconnected events along the same hydro-climatic spectrum, rather than as separate challenges. The framework provides practical guidance for improving coordination, planning, investment, and response across agencies and sectors.

Why This Matters

Floods and droughts cause enormous human and economic losses globally, yet are often managed in silos by agencies that rarely collaborate. This fragmented approach makes it harder to implement solutions that address both risks. EPIC Response offers a new vision for national governments to strengthen governance, foster collaboration, and build resilience to extreme hydro-climatic events.

Key Highlights/Impact

The EPIC Response Framework’s practical guidance is being operationalized through major Bank-financed projects and technical assistance worldwide.

EPIC supports countries in overcoming institutional silos by fostering collaboration among agencies, enabling joint planning and policy reforms for hydro-climatic risk management. In The Gambia, Nigeria, and India, EPIC has convened key agencies through a series of high-level workshops that bring together policymakers, civil society, and academia to collectively address hydro-climatic risks.

Assam (India), The Gambia: World Bank projects have helped structure national programs for improved risk management, drawing on EPIC guidance, enhancing disaster risk management and recovery. EPIC strengthens disaster risk management systems, early warning, and recovery programs, building resilience to major events.

Key Contacts

• Nathan Engle, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, nengle@worldbank.org

• Hila Cohen Mizrav, ET Consultant, hcohenmizrav@worldbank.org

Product Overview

The Integrated Storage Planning Framework helps governments and practitioners identify and fulfill water storage needs across sectors—energy, water supply, agriculture, and disaster risk management. It draws on the World Bank’s decades of global experience with integrated water resource management and promotes multi-sectoral solutions to the water storage gap, taking approaches that integrate needs and opportunities across the whole system, including natural, built, and hybrid storage, to support many instead of few, for generations to come. 

Why This Matters

Globally, there is a growing mismatch between where water is naturally available and where it is needed, compounded by aging infrastructure, declining freshwater storage, and rising demand. Climate change further exacerbates these challenges by increasing variability and the frequency of extreme events. The Framework aims to address the storage gap in a way that is efficient while being cognizant of the environmental and social risks that are inherent in water resources planning and development. It provides a systematic process for early identification and consideration of potential opportunities and trade-offs that are often only given attention after significant sums have been invested in project preparation and some design choices have already been made. The framework acts as a guide and is adaptable to specific settings, depending on needs, data availability, and how much storage planning has already taken place. 

Key Highlights/Impact

The Integrated Storage Planning Framework marks a paradigm shift in water storage planning by integrating natural, built, and hybrid solutions, enabling countries to manage water holistically for sustainability and resilience, and bridging gaps between water resources and supply sectors. It promotes storage solutions that are fit-for-purpose and selected based on local needs rather than technological preference.

Since the launch of the framework, the World Bank’s Global Department for Water has dedicated significant resources to put the Framework into action, including advice to dozens of projects across regions to promote more integrated approaches to water storage with built and natural storage working in concert and looking at new storage together with investments to get more from existing storage.

Country Examples

• India: The Framework was used to inform a deep dive on water storage, which is informing the India Country Climate and Development Report

• Nepal: A national water storage overview for Nepal was carried out, informed by the Framework

• Partnership with the Nature Conservancy (TNC): With support from experts at TNC, World Bank teams in have received training and tailored project advice on incorporate nature-based storage solutions into client engagements, including:

⁃ Somalia: Identification of watershed management and other small nature-based storage options

⁃ Chile: Regulatory reform to support nature-based solutions for water storage

Key Contacts

• Eileen Burke, Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, eburke@worldbank.org

• Kimberly Lyon, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, klyon@worldbank.org

Product Overview

Groundwater is an often invisible but critical resource that underpins water security, food production, ecosystem health, and resilience to climate change. The Groundwater for a Resilient Future focus area provides knowledge, tools, and support to Task Team Leaders to help clients better value, manage, and protect this critical resource. The work ranges from strengthening national groundwater monitoring systems, improving water well and borehole construction, and promoting nature-based solutions for aquifer recharge, to fostering sustainable agricultural use and advancing international cooperation on transboundary aquifers. By combining lessons learned, science, policy advice, and operational tools, this focus area strengthens client capacity to sustainably develop groundwater while minimizing risks of overexploitation, pollution, or maladaptation.

Why This Matters

Despite its importance, groundwater remains poorly understood and managed in many regions:

• Limited cooperation on shared aquifers: Only 6 formal cooperation agreements exist for 468 known transboundary aquifers, leaving most without frameworks for joint management.

• Unsuitable recharge approaches: Managed Aquifer Recharge approaches relying on grey infrastructure often fail to align with local contexts, highlighting the need for nature-based solutions that enhance natural aquifer recharge while delivering multiple ecosystem and livelihood benefits.

• Vulnerable borehole construction: Poor contracting and weak technical oversight expose clients to geological and construction risks, reducing borehole longevity, sustainability and impact.

• Risks of maladaptation in agriculture: Groundwater irrigation supports food security but, without safeguards, can drive depletion that disproportionately harms smallholder farmers.

• Weak groundwater management: Overexploitation, poor preservation of groundwater quality, and limited institutional frameworks hinder the resilience of people, ecosystems, and economies dependent on groundwater.

Key Highlights/Impact

Services to clients:

• Transboundary aquifer cooperation frameworks.

• Nature-based solutions for enhanced natural aquifer recharge, sustaining river baseflows, ecosystems, and local economies.

• Contractual and technical support to improve borehole construction.

• Risk-based approaches to groundwater use in agriculture.

• Policy dialogues to strengthen national groundwater management frameworks.

Flagship knowledge & tools:

• The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Economics of Groundwater in Times of Climate Change (Report)

• Seeing the Invisible: A Strategic Report on Groundwater Quality

• Sahel groundwater-dependent ecosystem mapping

• Handpump corrosion prevention guidelines

Pipeline innovations:

• AI tool to predict static water levels in basement aquifers.

• Updated benchmarks on borehole lifespan and construction risks.

• Enhanced guidelines to more robustly integrate groundwater in the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework and national regulations.

• Contributions to reducing groundwater’s role in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Selected case studies

India

The Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) has established 10 accredited groundwater quality laboratories across seven states, equipped with modern monitoring systems. Over 8,200 community-led Water Security Plans have been prepared, and groundwater data is publicly disclosed through digital platforms. More than 41,700 wells are metered, and 229 blocks now publish online groundwater reports, supporting a reversal in groundwater decline in several areas.

Mongolia

Mongolia’s digital groundwater monitoring platform uses machine learning for real-time analysis and prediction in Ulaanbaatar and the Southern Gobi, supporting transparent decision-making and conflict resolution.

Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia)

Through the Groundwater for Resilience Project, these countries are developing national groundwater strategies and harmonized guidelines. Over 100 professionals have been trained, and national focal groups coordinate regional activities

Morocco

The Water Security and Resilience Program has signed participatory groundwater management contracts for key aquifers and installed smart meters for large users, improving governance and compliance

Southern Africa (SADC)

SADC-GMI has established national focal groups in 13 member states and implemented competitive grants for participatory groundwater management, with strategic partnerships supporting capacity building

Pakistan

Analysis of groundwater management in the Indus Basin has informed institutional reforms and the design of monitoring and data management initiatives, supporting improved governance.

Key Contacts

• Francois Bertone, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, fbertone@worldbank.org

• Eileen Burke, Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, eburke@worldbank.org

Product Overview

The Good Practice Note on Dam Safety and accompanying series of technical notes provide guidance for applying risk management approaches to dam safety in World Bank projects, in line with the Environmental and Social Framework . It outlines steps such as risk analysis, risk assessment, decision-making for risk control, and ongoing monitoring—emphasizing that these should be used throughout the dam’s life cycle. This approach has many benefits, including an improved understanding of the safety of dams and identifying vulnerabilities that have not been identified using standards-based evaluation techniques. 

Why This Matters

The Good Practice Note aims to strengthen dam safety management, protecting downstream communities and ensuring dams deliver their intended services safely and effectively. It promotes comprehensive risk management strategies to foster resilience and security for people and ecosystems. Central to the approach is the concept that risk is not static and will change over time and depending on the condition of the dam. Risk management approaches can be applied in the case of individual dams or in the context of multiple dams, where portfolio risk assessment tools enable the systematic identification, classification and prioritization of dams, according to the likelihood and consequence of failure, which ensures that limited resources are directed to maximize overall reductions in risk.

Key Highlights/Impact

• India: The Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) introduced a risk assessment framework for over 5,000 large dams. The Central Water Commission developed a risk indexing system to prioritize investments and rehabilitation, focusing resources on the highest-risk dams covering structural and non-structural measures.

• Indonesia: The Dam Operational Improvement and Safety Project (DOISP) applied a risk assessment framework for prioritizing safety improvement measures to rehabilitate 147 dams towards the goal of improving their safety and reliability.

Key Contacts

• WB Dams and Reservoirs Team: WB_Dams_and_Reservoirs_Team@worldbankgroup.org

Product Overview

The toolkit supports Sustainable Development Goal Target 6.5 by providing 101 practical tools, drawn from international experience, to help countries and development partners manage shared freshwater resources. It emphasizes the need for coordination among countries to unlock greater benefits and offers a three-stage framework for selecting tools to manage transboundary water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner promoting water security and mitigating transboundary harm. 

Why This Matters

The management of transboundary lakes and river basins and aquifers faces several complex challenges that are compounded by the transboundary nature of water. This includes cross-border flood and drought risk mitigation, ecosystem conservation, data and information sharing, realizing the benefits of and overcoming the barriers to cooperation due to differing national interests. The toolkit helps countries overcome these obstacles by providing tested approaches for joint management, data sharing, and conflict prevention. 

Key Highlights/Impact

• Benefits of collaborative approaches to transboundary basin management

Transboundary river basins account for 60% of global freshwater flows and support billions of people, making their effective management essential for water security, economic development, and environmental sustainability. The interconnected nature of these basins means that actions in one country can have far-reaching impacts across borders, requiring collaborative approaches. Cooperation enables countries to unlock mutual economic benefits and employment, increase resilience and enhance environmental sustainability at a scale that cannot be achieved through unilateral development alone.

Drina River Basin (Western Balkans): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia have worked together on basin planning and flood risk management in collaboration with the International Sava River Basin Commission, supported by the World Bank.

Zambezi River Basin (Southern Africa): Eight countries share the Zambezi. The Zambezi Watercourse Commission, with World Bank support, has developed a basin-wide master plan, information platform, and flood forecasting system, improving resilience and regional cooperation

• The Role of Joint Institutions and Data Sharing

Effective basin and aquifer management requires careful analysis of benefits, costs, risks, and opportunities, with tools to manage risks and promote compliance. Joint institutions are critical for managing risks, carrying out effective basin planning, promoting data sharing, improving water quality, and reducing the impacts of floods and droughts. River Basin Organizations provide platforms for dialogue, technical collaboration, and coordinated action.

Senegal River Basin (West Africa): The Organization for the Development of the Senegal River Basin (OMVS) unites Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea. Investments have increased rural incomes, improved food security, and reduced disease prevalence

Niger River Basin (West Africa): The Niger Basin Authority (NBA) coordinates nine countries. World Bank support helped develop a shared vision, water charter, and a climate resilience investment plan 

Key Contacts

• Christina Leb, Lead Water Specialist, cleb@worldbank.org

• Eileen Burke, Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, eburke@worldbank.org

Product Overview

The Water Security Diagnostic Initiative leverages the World Bank’s expertise, technical experience, instruments and resources to produce impactful studies that shape national water narratives, influence high-level policy, and support sector reforms. Through in-depth diagnostics and governance analysis, the initiative provides a comprehensive understanding of water security challenges, enabling countries to develop effective strategies for sustainable water management and policy implementation.

Why This Matters

The initiative seeks to provide understanding regarding the current status of water security, encompassing awareness of future threats and the lack of effective strategies to tackle these challenges. By providing detailed diagnostics and analysis, this initiative aims to empower countries with the essential insights needed to identify and mitigate risks associated with water security.

Key Highlights/Impact

• Water Security Diagnostics provides countries with evidence-based insights to identify and address current and future threats to water security, essential for developing effective strategies for resource management and service delivery.

• The diagnostics examine how countries can better utilize their water endowments, ensuring efficient and sustainable use of water resources. This includes improving the delivery of water-related services and building resilience against water-related challenges to improve development outcomes, benefiting people, the economy and the planet. By benchmarking performance and sharing lessons learned, they facilitate cross-country learning.

• The diagnostics identify and quantify economic and social cost of water insecurity, highlighting priority areas for intervention. They inform policy reforms and strengthen sector governance by providing actionable recommendations, and guide investments that build resilience, improve water infrastructure and enhance service delivery.

Key Contacts

• Eileen Burke, Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, eburke@worldbank.org

• Fan Zhang, Lead Economist, fzhang1@worldbank.org