ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the science of water is a good starting point for rethinking the value of water to humans. It follows the flow of water to understand how freshwater and marine ecosystems work and to recognise that the very water molecules that pass through our own bodies may end up in a tropical cyclone or in the gullet of a deep sea fish. The chapter aims to highlight the importance and value of water as it moves through the global hydrosphere and introduce some concepts that can help us rethink our relationships with water. It focuses on big global water challenges and some of the emerging solutions. Growing public concerns about the pollution of waterways, rising costs for maintaining water supplies and for dealing with streams of waste water, and new efforts to put a price on water access rights, may be shifting public opinion slowly.
