Decouple water infrastructure finance from the politically impossible user fee model by creating Water Resilience Bonds (WRBs) — a new blended finance instrument that ring-fences carbon credit revenues and biodiversity payment streams to fund water infrastructure on 30-year contracts without requiring households to pay more for water.

The mechanism: (1) Governments issue WRBs backed by 30-year contractual revenue from two sources: carbon credits from avoided deforestation in watersheds (REDD+) and payments from downstream water users (farmers, hydropower operators, beverage companies) for watershed protection and reliable water quality.

(2) Returns to bond holders are paid from these ring-fenced streams; principal is repaid from infrastructure revenue when systems are mature. (3) Bond interest rates reflect the sovereign risk of the government, not the political unpopularity of water tariffs.

(4) Beneficiary-pays principle: the agriculture, energy, and beverage sectors that directly benefit from reliable water fund the infrastructure they depend on. This decouples from household affordability constraints.