ABSTRACT

How can one round off a volume on such a broad topic as “the challenges to European water management in the 21st century”? I cannot help but feel that over the preceding eight chapters we have only scratched the surface. Though I have taken great pains to ensure that the information presented in those chapters is as relevant and up to date as possible I am haunted by all the topics that have not been treated so far. For example what about the issue of “embodied water” – the water contained in things and consumed by their production? Recent work by Dhayatker (2009) explores another dimension of the global water imbalance: the water that Western European countries are importing from water-stressed regions in the form of agricultural produce. Embodied water comes in at least two forms:

The water contained in the thing itself – directly embodied water.

The water it takes to produce something – indirectly embodied water.