Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department is using international aid to tackle the water shortage in Bangladesh.

The UK government is providing up to £23.5 million over five years (2012-17) through the South Asia Water Governance Programme to facilitate regional collaboration over shared rivers in South Asia, including in Bangladesh, in order to address challenges around water resource management, development and climate change.

The UK Government is also supporting a multi-country study (including Bangladesh) on groundwater resilience to climate change and abstraction in the Indo-Gangetic basin. The study is being undertaken by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in association with several local partners.