Water sits at the foundation of human and ecological survival, yet the chapter opens by showing how centuries of poor management have turned water’s reliability into a global challenge. This crisis has deepened even as knowledge about water has grown exponentially. The reasons include a persistent disconnect between knowledge generation and practical application. Universities, while central to producing expertise, have often privileged academic metrics over solving real-world problems, and policymakers, operating under time pressure and faced with highly technical language, are frequently shut out from academic insight. Finally, the uncritical promotion of “best practices,” detached from local context, further weakens effective action.
Countries such as Singapore and China have improved water management through sustained political commitment, close alignment between academia and policymaking, and solutions grounded in context. Biswas and Tortajada call for a redemption of the purpose of knowledge itself to value dissemination and application. Otherwise, the water crisis will continue to intensify with cascading consequences for food security, public health, and human longevity.
By Asit K. Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada, Chapter of the book: Univer-Cities: Combatting Existential Climate Change, edited by Anthony Teo, 2026, World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, pages 9-35. DOI: 10.1142/9789819831142_0002