Chapter 4. Water Use: From Ancient to Modern Times
Image: Panna Meena ka Kund stepwell in Jaipur, India. Photo by Timothy Lytton, used with permission.
This chapter covers the history of water use from ancient times to the present. We address questions such as these:
- What role did water play in the development of civilization?
- What technologies and approaches have societies developed to deal with water’s variability?
- Is water management in the modern era fundamentally different from earlier periods?
- How much water does humanity use, and how has that changed over time?
A slideshow based on Chapter 4 (including all the figures and tables in the chapter) is available here and below.