The alluvial soil of Bengal delta inundated and/or flooded annually from time immemorial produced enough food for the population of the region. However, with the passage of time and increase of population, the damaging effects of flood and need for dry season irrigation started gaining prominence.

After the consecutive floods of 1954 and 1955, in the then East Pakistan, as per recommendations of a UN Mission the East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (EPWAPDA) was created in 1959. A Master Plan was prepared by EPWAPDA in 1964 which an IBRD mission IN 1966 thought was based on insufficient data and was over ambitions But the Plan continued to provide direction for identifying water-sector projects of EPWAPDA and its successor the BWDB. A joint GOB-World Bank Mission in 1970 recommended that a new Master Plan (National Water Plan – NWP) was needed for assessment of availability and demands of each sector of water use. The government then created the Master Plan Organization (MPO) under the Ministry of Water Resources in 1983. The NWP-1 was completed in 1987 and was updated as NWP-II in 1991. But the plan was never either accepted or rejected by the Government. In June 1992 MPO was renamed as the Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) and the mandate for the organization was published in Bangladesh Gazette an the 22nd December 1991. The Water Resources Planning Act (Act no XII of 1992) provides the legal framework for the Organization.

Meanwhile the severe floods in 1987 and 1988 triggered a remarkable response from the international community and 16 donor countries came forward to finance the Flood Action Plan (FAP) with 11 main and 15 supporting studies including 2 pilot projects on FCD and river bank protection respectively. The Flood Plan Coordination Organization (FPCO) drew together the findings of the various studies under FAP which led to the preparation of Bangladesh Water and Flood Management Strategy which was approved by the government in 1995. From 1990 to 1995 when FAP studies were being undertaken with vigor and perhaps some fanfare WARPO remained a more or less dormant organization. But after the adoption of the Water and Flood Management Strategy, the government decided to abolish FPCO and merge it with WARPO in January 1996 giving it a new lease of life and the responsibility of preparing a new National Water Management Plan (NWMP) and a National Water Sector database.

The National Water Policy (NWPo), published in January 1999, establishes a clear role for WARPO as an apex planning body in the water sector. WARPO will also act as a secretariat to the Executive Committee to the National Water Resources Council.

To align with its new responsibilities, WARPO's mandate is being revised; the organization is being restructured, establishing the necessary information and analytical tools within WARPO; steps are being taken to create a better working environment. 

Water Resources Planning Act (Act no XII of 1992)

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