NATURAL RESOURCES:Crisis on Tap: A World Without Water

From: The Washington Post | Date: October 29, 1989| Author: Sandra Postel | Copyright information

PARAKRAMA BAHU the Great, 12th-century king of Sri Lanka, set the ultimate standard for water engineers: "Let not even a small quantity of water obtained by rain go to the sea without benefiting man."

Eight hundred years later, that dictum has largely been carried out in thousands of dams, reservoirs and canals. They have enhanced agriculture, industry and urban growth and advanced living standards virtually everywhere. Technological feats such as Egypt's Aswan High Dam and the Calif...

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