TABLE OF CONTENTS Man is not an aquatic animal, but from the time we stand in youthful wonder beside a Spring brook till we sit in old age and watch the endless roll of the sea, we feel a strong kinship with the waters of this world.
Hal Borland (1900 1978), Sundial of the Seasons, 1964
Water, to humans, is more than dihydrogen monoxide (H 2O). It is, with air and blood, one of the indispensable fluids of life. Borland aptly places humanity in a strongly bound relationship with water at every scale, from cytoplasm to oceans and continental air masses. Water is a central theme of most faith traditions, including every account of creation. For example, in the book of Genesis of Judeo-Christian Scripture, the creation account declares that "the Spirit of God was moving over the water." And later, in Exodus, Chapter 7, one of the first miracles provided is a case of water pollution: "Aaron raised his stick and struck the surface of the river, and all the water in it was turned into blood. The fish in the river died, and it smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink from it." Water quality has enjoyed a primacy in human populations throughout history.
Water pollution is a problem that affects us at all scales in space and time, but also at the very essence of our being. Thus, we will consider some of the most noteworthy cases, not so much in terms of volume of contamination,...
