Hydrological models are powerful tools that shape how water is known, represented, and governed. Their strength lies in their capacity to simplify, represent, and predict, offering a way to make complex systems legible.
At the same time, hydrological models are increasingly critiqued for their limited sensitivity to local contexts, design biases, and reliance on flawed or incomplete data. The models can reduce political questions, such as water allocation, into purely technical problems, obscuring underlying issues of justice.
In this episode, we question hydrological modelling: where, how, for whom, and by whom are models developed and used, and how do their outcomes influence water conditions, distributions, and access for different societal groups?
Speakers:
- Tamerlan Mehdiyev
- Rozemarijn ter Horst
- Prerna Singh
- Willem van Deursen
This discussion took place on 4 August 2026 and was moderated by Douwe van der Meer and Shahnoor Hasan.
