Following floods that affected more than 20 000 people across Zambia, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is working with the Zambian government for improved knowledge generation and effective advisory services. Zambia’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, reportedly describing the ongoing floods in the Southern and Central provinces as “catastrophic”, highlights a rising number of communities at risk of contaminated flood waters, submerged sanitation infrastructure, collapsed infrastructure, damaged homes and imminent waterborne diseases stemming from such extreme flooding.