ABSTRACT
Water management involves the interaction between ecological parameters, which include water resources as a principal variable, and society. Throughout history, societal transformations in water management are linked to paradigmatic turns that govern how water is perceived, and accordingly how water is extracted, transported, treated, or controlled. Sustainability has become a catchword in most ecological and social as well as economic development discourses. Nevertheless, this concept is both vague and polysemic. At the core of resilience theory is the concept of socioecological systems (SESs). A human society is a system in the sense that it is an interactive group of people. The theory is based on differentiating how water management strategies have been transformed with different types of socio-economic configurations ranging from hunting–gathering to modern, global societies. Resilience and adaptability are often invoked in dealing with world global socioecological problems.
