Asit K. Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada
ONEWATER | July 1, 2026
Global water management is currently paralyzed by a fundamental resistance to change. For over half a century, the inherently conservative water profession has been trying to solve tomorrow’s and day-after-tomorrow’s water problems with yesterday’s mindsets and day-before-yesterday’s solutions, even though these approaches have rarely worked. In most parts of the world, management techniques have remained largely similar to what they were in the 1980s. Not surprisingly, these historical approaches have not only failed to solve many water problems but have often exacerbated them. Read our views.