Soft water paths

摘要

Not a moment too soon, the world is awakening to the need to rethink funda-mentally the way freshwater resources are distributed, managed and used. In an era of technological breakthroughs and the wonders of the information revolution, millions die each year from preventable water-related diseases, and hundreds of millions more suffer from debilitating illnesses. Despite massive investment and effort, by the end of the twentieth century 2.4 billion people (more than lived on the entire planet in 1940) lacked sanitation services of the standard available to most citizens of ancient Rome. More than a billion people still lack adequate, clean drinking water.