ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of some fundamental concepts related to water. It describes the key physical and chemical properties of water, and the importance of water for life. It also summarises the role that water management has had in the development of civilisations and some of the contemporary cultural roles of water in society. The chapter then explores the global and regional availability of freshwater resources, noting that global annual freshwater availability is around seven times greater than current use. Despite this surplus, because of the spatial variability of water resources and the unaligned distribution of people, there are significant current issues of water resource scarcity for some regions. The chapter then notes some of the future projections for growing water demand and explains why there are major concerns about how this demand will be met in some areas. Interdisciplinary water research and water solutions are therefore necessary to enable us to tackle the global water crisis.
