Glossing over the complexity of water.

Although we applaud the recognition given by Science to Freshwater Resources, the recent Special Section (25 Aug., pp. [1067][1]–1090) missed an opportunity to highlight the multifaceted nature of water resources research. Framing “the” water problem as a search to quench a universal thirst (“A thirsty world”) glosses over critical differences in the causes of, and thus the solutions to, water problems across regions. It forces the discussion into the domains of supply augmentation and engineering and marginalizes underlying drivers of “thirst” such as rapid urbanization, economic transitions, geopolitical factors, or poverty. Lack of access to water in many African countries, for example, is less the outcome of a first-order water scarcity than of a second-order scarcity of social resources ([1][2]). As the News story “Running out of water—and time” (J. Bohannon, p. 1085) suggests, Gaza suffers at least as much from geopolitical factors that inhibit access to money and nearby water as from the “environmental problem” of “running out of water.” Water transfers or desalination help overcome local/regional scarcity, but with important environmental, social, and economic costs (“Going against the flow,” R. Stone, H. Jia, News Focus, p. 1034; “Desalination freshens up,” R. F. Service, News, p. 1088). For example, Israel's water management is becoming “sustainable” (“Seeking sustainability: Israel's evolving water management strategy,” A. Tal, Perspective, p. 1081) only from a narrow technical perspective that treats as exogenous the growth in its arid south and neglects the environmental and third party impacts of overexploiting the Jordan River. Firstorder scarcity metrics (“Global hydrological cycles and world water resources,” T. Oki, S. Kanae, Review, p. 1068), especially global ones, overlook such specificities and are of limited policy use. The interdisciplinary water research community has shifted its attention to context-specific and proactive approaches such as watershed management, ecological engineering, demand management, reallocation, and collaborative/adaptive planning ([2][3]). We understand that the Special Section was not meant to be an exhaustive review of freshwater issues. But institutional, political, and economic options deserve more than cursory mention in Science , since it is primarily these, rather than technical fixes alone, that “offer a measure of hope for the future” (“A thirsty world,” J. Yeston et al. , p. 1067). 1. 1.[↵][4]1. J. Lundqvist, 2. M. Falkenmark, 3. C. Folke, 4. L. Gordon, 5. L. Ohlsson , New Dimensions in Water Security (UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 2000)(FAO AGL/MISC/25/2000. 2. 2.[↵][5]1. P. H. Gleick , Water Int. 25, 127 (2000). [OpenUrl][6][CrossRef][7][Web of Science][8] 3. 3.The Letter was written with input from the ERG Water Group. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.313.5790.1067 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1. in text" [5]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2. in text" [6]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DWater%2BInt.%26rft.volume%253D25%26rft.spage%253D127%26rft.atitle%253DWATER%2BINT%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1080%252F02508060008686804%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [7]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1080/02508060008686804&link_type=DOI [8]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=000085987900013&link_type=ISI