Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World’s Water Problems

Chapter Seven: Integrating Water Planning and Management

“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.”

Jacques Cousteau (1910–1997)

When we go to the toilet, a simple flush carries the waste away and out of sight. Few of us give it further thought. However, wastewater treatment is big business in the developed world and of increasing concern in the developing world, where investment in sewage treatment plants has been very limited. While most rivers in the developed world are now relatively clean and protected to a greater or lesser extent by water quality laws such as the EU Water Framework Directive,¹ the same is far from the case in many developing countries. Due to a combination of ...