No progress can be made towards an improved world water situation for the future without good information.

Regrettably, a lot of the numbers on which plans for the future must be based reside in data-bases that make really boring reading - unless you are looking for something very specific indeed.

One of the best sources, if you really do want the numbers, is a series of biennial reports on the state of the world's water, published by Dr. Peter Gleick.

At the opposite (i.e. grassroots) end of the development spectrum, it is also important that community groups have good data available to them, in the form of maps, weather data, and water use statistics. Unless this sort of information is collected, and made easily available to the public, it is difficult for concerned citizens to contribute effectively to any relevant dialogue or decision making. This is now becoming increasingly available. One of the best examples of this sort of thing is Gregg Eckhardt's Edwards Aquifer Homepage.