From the local to the global scale, water use and sustainability are issues of pressing importance. Never before has water science needed to inform water policy so much, and never before have we seen how challenging it is to advance that relationship. How rapidly is the demand for water growing? What climate- or pollution-imposed limits to water supplies exist, and how can we best manage them? Will privatization benefit water management, resource development, and the environment?How can science work more closely with the policy and engineering communities to perfect knowledge-based water planning? discusses these issues, and more. Scientists in water research and geography, water policy experts, water managers and engineers, lawyers grappling with water issues, and environmentalists concerned with the state of water internationally will find this book a significant resource now and in the coming years.