Towards reparative governance of circular water system transitions: an analytic review and conceptual advances

Global water systems face growing pressures from climate change, urbanisation and resource depletion. Circular Water Systems (CWS) are promoted as solutions emphasising efficiency, resilience and resource recovery. Recent literature calls for more participatory and institutional reforms but remains largely technocratic, reflecting circular economy models that privilege large infrastructure, standardised metrics and expert authority. When transferred globally, these models risk reproducing colonial hierarchies and erasing informal or indigenous water practices, deepening distributive and epistemic injustices. This paper argues that circularity is not inherently just: without a decolonial orientation, CWS may reinforce existing asymmetries under the guise of optimisation. Drawing on water-sensitive governance and transformative innovation policy research, we introduce reparative governance centred on three intentionalities — distribution, epistemic plurality and healing — to reframe circularity as just and reparative. Using the Transformative Outcomes framework, the paper outlines ways for justice-oriented shifts toward more plural, equitable and reparative circular futures.