ABSTRACTING FROM DIVERSITY

Water problems are as diverse as the human settlements that depend on water availability. In a region as large as Asia, the number of water-related problems is so vast that it is impossible to engage with any crisis, whether flood or drought, pollution or displacement, without paying homage to water. The region spans every known climatic and hydro-ecological zone, including deserts, tropical floodplains and tundra. The challenge of providing varied human dwellings in such diverse habitats with safe and reliable water, for both human consumption and economic activities promoting general well-being, will have to engage the sum total of known global ingenuity. Despite this diversity, it is necessary to identify and address common problems if we intend to forge any intelligent plan for collective action to solve water and settlement-related problems. This effort will require us to step back from specifics, which are different in every hamlet and town in every clime, and deduce general lessons. It is precisely in drawing such lessons that those of us engaged in redressing social or environmental wrongs face our biggest challenge. Water problems, especially those that pertain to social equity and environmental sanity are often very local concerns that demand actions a