Managing Water Resources Past and Present The Linacre Lectures 2002 [Hardcover]

A multi-disciplinary analysis of the evolution of water politics and policy by an international team of distinguished experts. Water management in the Middle Ages in Europe, its evolution in the USA, the elaboration of the European Water Framework Directive, the British experience of water management, the over-exploitation of African aquifers, and the evolution of the water situation in Southern Africa are all examined.

This volume underlines the fact that only an integrative and interdisciplinary understanding can lead to genuinely improved water management practices that will not benefit some social groups at the expense of others.

Introduction,Julie Trottier
1. Silent Springs: Groundwater Resources Under Threat,W. M. Edmunds
2. Water in Mediterranean History,Peregrine Horden
3. The Development of American Water Resources: Planners, Politicians, and Constitutional Interpretation,Martin Reuss
4. Managing Water for the Future: The Case of England and Wales,Ian Byatt
5. Water for Europe: The Creation of the European Water Framework Directive,Maria Kaika
6. Water Laws for Water Security in the Twenty-First Century,Stefano Burchi
7. Water and Conflicts, Hobbes v. Ibn Khaldun: The Real Clash of Civilizations?,Julie Trottier
8. Water and Development: A Southern African Perspective,Peter Ashton
Index

The editors make a good case for the inherent interdisciplinarity of water-resource management, the emergence of innovative approaches such as earth systems engineering and management, and the two overarching themes of development and democracy addressed in different ways by individual authors. --Geographical Reviews