Water policy

Water management and water infrastructure are preconditions for civilization, and demands on our water resources are increasing. In some regions these demands are exceeding capacities to supply water. Our old water institutions, laws, regulations, treaties and agreements are straining to meet the new demographic realities. Throughout the world there is a growing need to build a capacity for integrated water management in order to create new opportunities for cooperation, community and peace building; to respond to scarcities; and to manage local, national and trans-boundary conflicts. Building this capacity for integrated water management calls for a new dialogue between many different private and public communities - policy making, diplomatic, administrative, financial, legal and technical/scientific. This dialogue must also include the traditional water communities - industrial, urban, agricultural and transportation. Water Policy provides a forum for this dialogue. It invites these communities into this forum both to shape and to be shaped by thinking and debate on water policy worldwide.