ABSTRACT
Water has been the lifeblood of civilization for thousands of years. Civilized man has traveled the world's oceans since the very beginning. The earliest known written document (the book of Job) refers to water in its various forms over two dozen times: snow, ice, dew, rain, hail, clouds, storms, tempests, and floods. In the histories of over 200 ancient civilizations worldwide, there are accounts of the Great Flood; in its aftermath are the records of these cultures managing water resources. Civilization has always been dependent on finding water, particularly fresh water, both for drinking and for crops. Wars have been fought over the ownership and use of fresh water; even today, great bodies of legislation exist which attempt to allocate scarce water sources in arid lands. The challenge—both then and now—has been to take what literally falls from the heavens and distribute those flows to the survival and benefit of all.
