Introduction

Abstract

For the person who is reading this book on a hot, sunny day, there is little need to explain the importance of water and the value of understanding the relationship between water use and economic influences. For all other readers, consider the following points:

• A sample of women who live in the slums of Dhaka report that they require an average of 3 hours each day to convey their household's water from public wells and pipes to their homes (Chowdry, 1999)

• The annual amount of water available per person in 1990 ranged from 100,000 m³ in Canadaⁱ to 400 m³ in Israel (Dinar and Subramanian, 1997).

• The global demand for freshwater for human consumption has increased almost tenfold while population has increased only by a factor of 3.5 during the 20^th century (Biswas, 1997; OECD, 1998).

• Costanza et al. (1997) estimates that approximately 82% of the total ecosystem value stems from the services provided by water or wetlands. Most of this value is not reflected in market transactions.