history of human civilisation is ontwined with the tory of the ways we have earned to manipulato water resources As towns gradually expanded water wa brought from such as dams and remote sour to soph engineering aqueduct At the height of the Roman Empire nine major tems. with an innovative layout of pipes and well built sewers supplied the ants of Rome with as much water per person as isr pro Paris the industrial world today. B centuries he demand for water rose dramatically explosion of the 19th and 20th the industrial revolution and population construction of Unprecedented fens of thousands of monumental projects designed to control floods. engineering clean water supplies, and provide water for irrigation and hydropower brought great benefits to hundreds of millions of people Food production has kept with soaring populations mainly because of the exparison of artifici rigation stems that make possible the growth of 40% of the worlds food. Nearly one:fifth the electricity generated worldwide is produced by turbines spun by the power falling water C Yet there is a dark side to this picture: despite our progress, haif of the world's e ulation still suffers, with water services inferior to those availade to the ancient reiterated in Greeks and Romans. As the United Nations report on access to water November 2001, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water ome two and a half billion do not have adequate sanitation services Preventable diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children day, and water-related the latest evidence suggests that we are falling behind in efforts to solve these problems consequences of our water policies extend beyond jeopardising human health D The Tens of millions of people have been forced to move from there homes- often with arning or compensation to make way for the reservoirs.behind dams. More than 20 of all freshwater fish species are now threatened or endangered dams and water withdrawals have destroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems because ere they thrive. Certain irrigation practices degrade soi! quality and reduce Groundwater aquifers are being pumped down faster than productivity ricultural y are naturally replenished in parts of India, China. the USA and elsewhere. And e utes over shared water resources have led to violence and continue to raise national and even international tensions.