Ihave spent a lot of time in the last couple of decades thinking about the future of water. I think there are some truly depressing possibilities facing us. But I swing back and forth between pessimism and optimism as I get older, and find I much prefer optimism. I don't know what the future will look like - there are, of course, many possible futures. But I can see, at least through occasional patches of clearing fog, the outlines of a future we might want to pursue. Many of my recent research projects and even my policy musings have touched on the idea of a "soft path for water" - a new way of thinking about sustainable water planning, management, and use. I truly believe that we will, inevitably, move along such a path. The ways we managed water in the 20th Century brought many benefits to us - the water infrastructure and systems we developed have brought remarkable changes and advantages as the world has developed and advanced. But we also must acknowledge that many things we did in the 20th Century have inadvertently contributed to some of the worst water challenges we now face: the massive destruction of aquatic ecosystems; overpumping or contamination of nonrenewable ground water resources; and of course, the now inevitable consequences for our water systems of climate change.
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