Water is usually treated as an engineering issue. Cities need pipelines, treatment plants, reservoirs, pumps and drainage systems. Yet water is much more than infrastructure. It shapes health, household life, gender relations, neighbourhood inequality and the relationship between citizens and the state. In rapidly urbanising Bangladesh, the question is no longer simply whether people have access to water, but whether that water is safe, reliable, affordable and available to everyone.
The latest evidence from Bangladesh makes the distinction between access and safety particularly clear. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2025, published in 2026, found that 99 per cent of household members use improved drinking-water sources and 98.6 per cent have at least basic drinking-water services. Yet only 39.3 per cent have safely managed drinking water when availability, accessibility and contamination are taken into account.
This is one of Bangladesh's most important development paradoxes. The country has achieved almost universal access to improved water sources, but safe water remains far from universal. MICS 2025 found E. coli contamination in 47.1 per cent of source water and about 85 per cent of drinking water at the household point of use. When arsenic contamination is also considered, safely managed drinking-water coverage falls to 37.1 per cent under the WHO standard and 39.3 per cent under the Bangladesh standard.
The figures force us to reconsider what we mean by a "water connection". A household may have water coming through a pipe, yet that water may not be safe. A neighbourhood may have a functioning supply system, yet experience interruptions or inadequate pressure. A city may have extensive infrastructure while some residents continue to depend on shared facilities or informal suppliers.
This is where water acquires its social life. In cities, water does not flow only through pipes. It flows through households, markets, institutions and unequal social relationships. For a wealthy household, water insecurity may mean an inconvenient interruption. For a low-income family living in a densely populated settlement, it can mean dependence on shared sources, additional payments, storage problems and uncertainty about quality. The same city can therefore contain very different water realities.
Dhaka illustrates this contradiction. Its growth has generated enormous demand for water while placing increasing pressure on groundwater, rivers, canals, drainage and wastewater systems. Water supply cannot be separated from land use and urban planning. When wetlands and natural drainage channels are lost to construction, rainfall has fewer places to go. When wastewater is inadequately treated, rivers become increasingly polluted. Consequently, the city can experience water scarcity and waterlogging within the same urban system.
The problem extends beyond Dhaka. Bangladesh's cities are increasingly exposed to climate-related disruptions. MICS 2025 found that 35.8 per cent of household members had drinking water affected by one or more natural hazards during the previous 12 months. In coastal areas, saltwater intrusion is making safe drinking water more difficult to secure, while floods and extreme rainfall can contaminate sources and damage sanitation facilities. UNICEF identifies both bacteriological and chemical contamination, including salinity and arsenic, as continuing national concerns.
Climate change, therefore, makes urban water management not only an infrastructure issue but also a question of social protection. People with money can purchase bottled water, filtration systems, storage tanks or alternative services. Poor households have far fewer options. When public systems fail, the cost is greatest for those least able to absorb it.
Women often carry another hidden cost. When water becomes unreliable, household responsibilities involving collection, storage, cleaning and hygiene can require additional time. That time may come from employment, education, childcare or rest. Water policy is therefore also gender policy, even when it is discussed purely as an engineering matter.
Sanitation demonstrates the same principle. Bangladesh has made significant progress: MICS 2025 reports that 72.9 per cent of household members use basic sanitation services, while 91.7 per cent use improved sanitation facilities. Yet only 23.7 per cent have safely managed on-site sanitation. The difference illustrates why the mere presence of a toilet is not always sufficient to ensure adequate sanitation.
A toilet must be usable, hygienic, safe and accessible. These requirements matter particularly for women, children, older people and persons with disabilities. Menstrual hygiene also requires privacy, water and appropriate facilities. Infrastructure that ignores these needs may meet a construction target while failing to meet a human need.
The situation inside health facilities provides an even sharper warning. The 2026 WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme report found that, globally in 2025, 85 per cent of health-care facilities had basic water services. Still, only 40 per cent had basic sanitation, 72 per cent had basic hygiene, 59 per cent had basic environmental cleaning, and 71 per cent had basic waste management.
Bangladesh appears among countries with substantial gaps. The report indicates that 27 per cent of Bangladeshi health-care facilities had no hygiene service in 2025, and that Bangladesh was also among the countries where at least one in ten health-care facilities had no water service.
This is not simply a matter of comfort. Water and hand hygiene are essential to infection prevention. A health facility without dependable water, soap, cleaning systems and safe waste management can itself become a source of health risks. The lesson for urban governance is straightforward: water, sanitation, waste management, and public health should be planned as a single, integrated system.
The wider global situation reinforces this argument. The United Nations continues to report a substantial worldwide deficit in safely managed drinking water and sanitation. The challenge is particularly acute in rapidly growing cities, where population growth can outpace infrastructure and institutional capacity.
Bangladesh thus needs to move beyond counting infrastructure. The more important indicators are whether water is available when needed, whether it is free from dangerous contamination, whether households can afford it, whether sanitation is safely managed and whether vulnerable communities receive comparable services.
Better data can help. MICS 2025 is especially valuable because it provides nationally representative and geographically disaggregated information across all 64 districts and the three city corporation domains. Such information should be used to identify precisely where water quality, reliability and affordability are weakest rather than relying on national averages that can conceal local inequalities.
Governance is equally important. Responsibility for urban water is spread across utilities, city corporations, local government institutions, environmental authorities and other agencies. When responsibilities are fragmented, accountability can become fragmented as well. Citizens may know that their water is unsafe or unreliable without knowing which institution is responsible for fixing the problem.
Urban water management should be based on clear standards, transparent monitoring and public accountability. Water-quality results should be routinely available to citizens. Complaints should be easy to submit and follow up. Poor and informal settlements should not have to remain invisible until a crisis occurs.
The economics of water also requires careful attention. Water systems require continuous investment in treatment, pipes, pumping, maintenance, drainage and wastewater management. But financial sustainability cannot mean making essential services unaffordable for poorer households. Equally, keeping tariffs artificially low while allowing infrastructure to deteriorate is not sustainable. The objective should be a system that is financially viable while protecting those least able to pay.
Bangladesh also needs to recognise that protecting water is often cheaper than replacing damaged water systems. Wetlands, canals and natural drainage areas are not empty spaces waiting for development. They are part of the city's water infrastructure. Once destroyed, their functions become extremely expensive to recreate through concrete drains, pumping stations and other engineered systems.
The same principle applies to rivers. A river is not merely a channel for carrying water away. It is part of an ecological and economic system. Pollution of rivers eventually becomes a public health and economic problem, while excessive groundwater extraction can pose longer-term risks to urban sustainability.
The social life of water ultimately tells us something fundamental about the city itself. Where water is safe, reliable and affordable, people experience greater security and dignity. Where it is contaminated, inaccessible or expensive, inequality becomes more visible.
Bangladesh has made impressive progress in expanding access to improved water sources. The next challenge is more demanding: turning access into genuine water security. That requires safer supplies, better sanitation, stronger wastewater management, climate-resilient infrastructure, protection of natural water systems and greater accountability.
The future of Bangladesh's cities will not be determined only by roads, bridges, buildings and digital networks. It will also depend on whether cities can manage the water that sustains them.
Water begins at the tap, but its social life extends to the household, hospital, school, workplace, river and ultimately the citizen's relationship with the state. A genuinely liveable city is not one where wealthy residents can purchase their way out of water insecurity. It is one where every resident, regardless of income or neighbourhood, can expect safe water as a basic condition of a dignified urban life.
Dr Matiur Rahman is a researcher and development professional.
