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Open research questions in Water Governance and Infrastructure

154 gap statements mined from Water Governance and Infrastructure papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 2,659 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The study highlights the need to evaluate the effectiveness of TEK in relation to its articulation with multiscale governance arrangements. The study addresses the lack of research on the impact of socio-environmental transformation on TEK.

    Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Arhuaco People on Water Management in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in current socio-hydrogeological approaches, which are undermined by their mobilisation as being politically neutral, objective, and universal. It also highlights the lack of integration of insights from critical social sciences in socio-hydrogeological initiatives.

    Situating socio-hydrogeology: Towards a transdisciplinary understanding of groundwater monitoring practices in western India · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of how strategic uncertainty was used to delay the regulation of groundwater in Australia's Great Artesian Basin. It highlights the need to examine how legal doctrines and institutionalized uncertainty contributed to the delay. The paper also identifies a gap in the understanding of how path-dependent extraction regimes became economically and culturally entrenched.

    Strategic uncertainty and the delay of groundwater regulation in Australia’s Great Artesian Basin (1886–1914) · 2026 · DOI

  • Climate change-related heatwaves and dust storms increasingly strain water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) systems in displacement settings, yet little is known about how households manage water scarcity during acute climate events.

    Water management practices under climate and infrastructure stress in Zaatari Refugee Camp: A gendered qualitative study · 2026 · DOI

  • Comparing disputes over infrastructure ownership in Melbourne and discriminatory water distribution policies in Hong Kong, the chapter argues that even in a partial democracy, complaints alone were insufficient to bring about immediate policy changes.

    Abeyance and autonomy: Water management in Melbourne and Hong Kong , 1850–1939 · 2026 · DOI

  • The analysis highlights the need for a coordination-centred framework for distributed electrification resilience. The paper identifies a gap in the policy framework for micro-hydropower as transition debt recovery.

    Micro-Hydropower as Transition Debt Recovery: Reactivating Historical Water Infrastructure for Electrification Resilience in Central Europe · 2026 · DOI

  • Existing scholarship does not often address how constitutional design impacts sub-national capacity. The study works to advance the research gap and examine the constitutional frameworks and political strategies.

    Leveraging the Climate Crisis · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research could examine how sacred and feminised ecologies are co-opted across varied religious and cultural scenarios in other Himalayan regions such as Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, and how such communities negotiate and resist the spiritual greenwashing in their ongoing struggles for land and livelihood.

    Between utopia and precarity: subsistence labour as embodied technology in Indian ecological documentaries · 2026 · DOI

  • The research highlights the need for incorporating justice-based frameworks into Himalayan development policy.

    Environmental and Social Dimensions of Tunnel Collapse Negligence in the Himalayan Region · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of social indicators in riparian assessment tools. The need for more inclusive and context-sensitive tools for urban riparian quality assessment.

    Co-construction of social dimensions of environmental quality for urban riverbanks · 2026 · DOI

  • The need for resilient models for rural environmental governance. The lack of integration of traditional ecological knowledge into formal rural policies.

    Indigenous Environmental Governance and Socio-Ecological Resilience: Examining the Subak System as a Model for Sustainable Rural Development in Bali · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can investigate the long-term impact of the revitalization on community welfare. Further studies can explore the applicability of the participatory approach in other community development contexts.

    Revitalisasi Unit Tandon Air Bersih Bumdes Sebagai Upaya Peningkatan Kesejahteraan Masyarakat Desa Talungeng · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the current approach to addressing water scarcity, which focuses primarily on hydrological aspects. It highlights the need for a more integrated approach that considers governance, equity, and cross-border challenges. The paper also identifies a gap in the lack of cooperative hydrodiplomacy to address water scarcity.

    Working Across Borders to Address Water Scarcity: Science, Governance, and Cooperation in a Fragmented World · 2026 · DOI

  • Another limitation of this study was the inability to incorporate, in a broader and more balanced manner, the perspectives of all social actors involved in the water conflict. As potential strategies to mitigate this water conflict intensified by agribusiness, stricter and non-underreported monitoring of water conflicts by competent public agencies is essential.

    “The River Means My Life. Without it, I Am Nobody”: Conflict Over Water Intensified by Agribusiness Involving Traditional Communities in the Middle São Francisco River Basin, Brazil · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper notes the challenge of limited retail options and poor transportation infrastructure in generating the need for long and time-consuming journeys for food procurement.

    From the infrastructure of food to food as infrastructure in Brazil’s urban peripheries · 2026 · DOI

  • The literature on infrastructure has largely overlooked food. There is a need to investigate food injustice in contexts of exclusion. The paper identifies a gap in understanding the relations between people, spaces, and materials that support the reproduction of everyday life in marginalized communities.

    From the infrastructure of food to food as infrastructure in Brazil’s urban peripheries · 2026 · DOI

  • It also mentions the need to adapt to difficult geographical conditions and to manage water resources effectively.

    Review of the Incamisana Hydraulic System in Ollantaytambo: A Territorial, Functional, and Symbolic Approach · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of attention to the practices and perceptions of security guards and doormen in Brazilian cities. The everyday social and material relations and interactions that take shape within residential entry halls and porters' lodges are not well understood. The paper identifies a gap in the recognition of the reproduction of racialized, gendered, and classed urban hierarchies.

    CARE AND CONTROL IN URBAN BRAZIL : The Subaltern Archive of Portarias · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies the challenge of dealing with the 'shaky' legal ground on which fluoridation was introduced. It highlights the challenge of resolving key legal issues, such as the lack of statutory powers to add extra substances to water. The paper also notes the challenge of addressing the suspicions of the anti-fluoridation movement.

    Legal mobilization and anti‐fluoridation campaigning in post‐war Britain · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to examine the indirect effects of legal mobilization. The gap also includes the lack of understanding of how legal mobilization can be used by conservative causes.

    Legal mobilization and anti‐fluoridation campaigning in post‐war Britain · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap in the literature is the lack of understanding of the longue durée transformation of Bangkok's outskirts physically and conceptually. The paper identifies a need to understand how market logic combined with older ideas about the city to create new material and conceptual conditions. The gap is also in the explanation of the state's resistance to and ineffectiveness of planning.

    Feral Territories: The Suburbanization of Nature in Eastern Bangkok · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to examine the role of wind masculinities in reorganizing power and the impact of wind energy development on marginalized communities.

    Wind Masculinities: Extractive, Caste, and Nationalist Rule in Rural India · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to consider Indigenous worldviews and rights in the formulation of public water policies.

    Water Justice and Conflicts over Water in the Kichwa Community of La Calera, Ecuador · 2026 · DOI

  • Further analysis of the impact of pollution on public health and the environment - Investigation of the effectiveness of different pollution control strategies - Examination of the role of community participation in pollution control…

    Challenges to Pollution Prevention and Control in Telangana: Institutional, Socio-Economic, and Environmental Barriers to Sustainable Development · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of effective governance and community participation in pollution control - The insufficient use of modern monitoring technologies - The need for improved coordination between different…

    Challenges to Pollution Prevention and Control in Telangana: Institutional, Socio-Economic, and Environmental Barriers to Sustainable Development · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Water Governance and Infrastructure

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) The study addresses the lack of research on the impact of socio-environmental transformation on TEK (“Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Arhuaco People on Water Management in…”, 2026); (2) It also highlights the lack of integration of insights from critical social sciences in socio-hydrogeological initiatives (“Situating socio-hydrogeology: Towards a transdisciplinary understanding of…”, 2026); (3) Climate change-related heatwaves and dust storms increasingly strain water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) systems in displacement settings, yet little is known about how households manage water scarcity during acute climate events (“Water management practices under climate and infrastructure stress in Zaatari…”, 2026); (4) The lack of integration of traditional ecological knowledge into formal rural policies (“Indigenous Environmental Governance and Socio-Ecological Resilience: Examining…”, 2026); (5) Future research can investigate the long-term impact of the revitalization on community welfare (“Revitalisasi Unit Tandon Air Bersih Bumdes Sebagai Upaya Peningkatan…”, 2026). 154 gap statements have been mined from Water Governance and Infrastructure papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 2,659 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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