At first glance, progress on clean water in North and Central Asia looks reassuring. Access to basic drinking water services has improved in recent years, 76 % of the population now has access to safe drinking water , and most countries in the region are moving towards the targets set under Sustainable Development Goal 6.

But water statistics have a habit of flattening reality.

Behind the averages lies a more complicated picture: rivers that cross borders but not institutions; reservoirs that serve both farms and power stations; data that exists, but not always where it is needed, or shared when it matters most. Climate change is adding a further layer of uncertainty, shrinking glaciers, shifting seasonal flows, and raising uncomfortable questions about how long existing water agreements can hold.

A recent UNESCAP analysis of SDG 6 progress in North and Central Asia makes this clear. One of the main challenges lies in how water is governed, particularly in transboundary basins where competing national, sectoral and local interests collide.

Where water governance becomes visible

Project focus is on the Naryn and Kara Darya river basins, shared primarily by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Here, water allocation decisions are inseparable from food security, energy production, and political trust.

Upstream, reservoirs are critical for hydropower. Downstream, the same water sustains irrigation systems that support millions of livelihoods. Agreements exist, but they rely on forecasts that are often uncertain, data that is fragmented, and institutions that struggle to coordinate across borders.

What happens when a dry year arrives earlier than expected?
Or when climate change pushes historical averages out of date?

These are not hypothetical questions. They are the daily realities faced by basin authorities, water user associations and national ministries across Central Asia.

Listening before building

This is where we at WE-ACT, trying to take a deliberate different approach.

Rather than starting with a technical solution, the project began by asking a simpler, and often neglected, question: what do water managers actually need to make better decisions?

Through a series of workshops and interviews in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, WE-ACT brought together policymakers, implementing agencies, scientists and local water actors to map the realities of water allocation on the ground. The findings, documented in the project’s management needs report, paint a consistent picture.

Stakeholders spoke of:

• limited access to shared, reliable hydro-meteorological data
• uncertainty around future water availability under climate change
• weak integration of ecosystems and water quality into allocation decisions
• and a lack of inclusive, participatory processes

From participation to practice

Out of these conversations emerged a clear message: better governance requires better tools—but only if those tools reflect real decision-making processes.

WE-ACT is responding by developing a decision support system miraX designed not to replace institutions, but to strengthen them. The system integrates climate scenarios, water demand analysis, drought assessment and ecosystem considerations, while creating space for dialogue between different users and levels of governance.

Crucially, it is being shaped by those who will eventually use it.

This matters for SDG 6, because the goal is not simply about access to water, but about sustainable and equitable management. That means decisions informed by data, yes, but also by transparency, trust and participation.