Contaminated Water

This article summarizes the general outline and the main results of the book, Environmental History of Water: Global View of Community Water Supply and Sanitationby Petri S. Juuti, Tapio S. Katko, and Heikki S. Vuorinen  published by IWA Publishing. The focus of the book, Environmental History of Water,  is on water, sanitation services and their evolution. Altogether, 34 authors were invited to put together 30 chapters for this multidisciplinary book. The book is divided into four chronological parts; from ancient cultures to the challenges of the 21st century, each part includes an introduction and conclusion written by the editors. The authors represent such disciplines as: the history of technology, the history of public health, public policy, development studies, sociology, engineering and management sciences.
The book emphasizes that the history of water and sanitation services is strongly linked to current water management and policy issues, as well as future implications. Geographically the book consists of local cases from all inhabited continents. The key penetrating themes of the book include population growth, health, water consumption, technological choices and governance. The history of water and sanitation services is strongly linked to current water management and policy issues, as well as future implications. Cross-sectional and historical intra-national and international comparisons have been recognized in many contexts as a valuable method of studying different sectors of human life - including technologies and governance. With regards to the latter, the World Water Development Report 2003 pointed out the extensive problem that: 'Sadly, the tragedy of the water crisis is not simply a result of the lack of water but is, essentially, one of poor water governance.