Author: Shayer Zayeem Islam, Head of Sustainability, BAT Bangladesh

Water scarcity is becoming a defining challenge for Bangladesh. Responsible stewardship, through better governance, efficient use, and community engagement, is essential to protect freshwater resources and ensure equitable access for future generations.

Freshwater may appear abundant in a riverine country like Bangladesh, but it is neither infinite nor guaranteed. Climate stress, pollution, and rising demand are tightening pressure on aquifers and rivers that millions depend on every day. Water determines whether fields yield harvests, whether industries operate responsibly, and whether children, especially girls, spend their mornings in classrooms or walking long distances to collect water.

That is why this year’s World Water Day theme, Water and Gender, deserves attention. When safe water is nearby, girls stay in school, women gain time and safety, and communities move forward together. Reliable water access is not simply an environmental concern; it is a foundation for dignity and opportunity. Addressing these challenges requires more than conservation targets. It requires stewardship.

Water stewardship recognises freshwater as a shared and vulnerable resource that must be governed responsibly. One of the most widely recognised global frameworks guiding this approach is theAlliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), an international multi-stakeholder organization that develops and promotes a global standard for responsible freshwater use and stewardship across industries, agriculture, and institutions.

The AWS Standard asks organizations to demonstrate good water governance, maintain sustainable water balance with local resources, protect water quality, safeguard water-related ecosystems, and engage meaningfully with surrounding communities. Importantly, the framework emphasizes transparency, requiring organizations to measure impacts, disclose progress, and collaborate with local stakeholders.

In Bangladesh, however, structured water stewardship is still emerging. While the country’s economy and population depend heavily on freshwater systems, industrial water management has historically focused more on compliance than on shared governance of water resources. As climate change intensifies pressures on groundwater and rivers, the need for industries to adopt stewardship approaches that balance operational needs with ecosystem and community priorities is becoming increasingly clear.

Against this backdrop, some organizations have begun aligning their practices with international standards such as AWS. BAT Bangladesh, for example, began its water stewardship journey in 2021 and started achieving AWS certifications from 2022 onward. Today, all of itsmanufacturing sites, as well as a Leaf Depot, are AWS certified, reflecting a broader commitment to responsible water management.

Achieving AWS certification requires action both inside and outside operational boundaries. Within facilities, organizations must monitor water withdrawals, improve efficiency, and invest in treatment and reuse systems that reduce pressure on local water sources. Beyond the fence line, they are expected to contribute to shared water governance – working with farmers, communities, and institutions to improve local water outcomes.

In practice, stewardship combines operational discipline with broader engagement across supply chains and communities. For example, BAT Bangladesh closely monitors water use at its sites, recycling roughly one-third through treatment and reuse systems to reduce pressure on local aquifers.

Stewardship efforts also extend into agriculture, where BAT Bangladesh-contracted farmers are encouraged to adopt innovative water-use solutions such as Alternate Furrow Irrigation, watering every other furrow instead of flooding entire fields, to improve efficiency. At the community level, BAT Bangladesh has supported the installation of more than 120 filtration plants in arsenic- and salinity-affected districts, providing safe drinking water to an estimated 300,000 people.These efforts reflect an understanding that water challenges cannot be solved in isolation. Industrial water management succeeds only when surrounding communities and ecosystems also benefit.

For that reason, AWS certification represents more than a technical label. It signals that an organization has adopted a broader stewardship approach, combining operational efficiency, community engagement, and transparent governance. Bangladesh’s water future will depend on many stakeholders, public institutions, industries, farmers, and communities, moving toward shared stewardship.

On World Water Day, the message is straightforward: treat water as a shared asset, not a free input. Measure it carefully, protects its quality, and ensures that access to it strengthens communities rather than divides them. Because where water is managed responsibly, equality has a chance to grow.

Shayer Zayeem Islam

Head of Sustainability, BAT Bangladesh