ABSTRACT
Water sustains life; it is indispensable for the welfare of human beings and their natural environment. But scarcity and misuse of this life-supporting resource pose a serious and growing threat to food security, human health and well-being, industrial development and the ecosystems on which they depend. Scarcity or poor quality can have a dramatic impact not only on agricultural production, but on all aspects of everyday life, very often adding to the burden of women. There is an urgent need for judicious management of water resources worldwide.
