In a fuel cell for a fuel cell power plant having a PEM (9), a cathode comprising at least a catalyst (10) and a support substrate (17), possibly with a diffusion layer (16), on one side of the PEM, and an anode comprising at least an anode support substrate (14) and an anode catalyst (11) on the opposite side of the PEM, and a porous water transport plate having reactant gas flow field channels (31, 32) (21, 28) adjacent to each of said support substrates as well as water flow channels (22) in at least one of said water transport plates, the thermal conductance of the cathode is less than about one-half of the thermal conductance of the anode, and preferably less than one-quarter of the thermal conductance of the anode, to promote flow of water from the cathode to the anode and to the adjacent water transport plate, obviating the need, in some cases, for water or reactant pressure pumps.