Water-management best practice in the twenty-fi rst century

There is perhaps no more graphic illustration of the centrality of water to human existence than the emphasis placed on the search for water on Mars. The confi rmation by NASA in July 2008 that its Phoenix lander on Mars had identifi ed ice in a soil sample analysed in its onboard laboratory prompted a newspaper opinion poll in which 92 per cent of respondents said they believed there was life elsewhere in the universe (Guardian, 2008). Beyond this fundamental association of water with ‘life’, however, water plays a major role in humanity’s social and economic existence. Not only is the management of water needed to enable almost all productive activity, but the need to manage water has historically imposed organisational requirements on human society.