Water alternatives

期刊简介：Water permeates all realms of life and many scientific disciplines. Water problems are often taken as technical issues, subject to rationalization, optimization and best addressed by expert knowledge. Yet, in the past three decades water issues have proved to be highly divisive and have generated heated debates. Engineer-centered approaches have been challenged or paralleled by concerns for the role of social organization, institutions, power structures and, more generally, politics; economists have assumed an increasingly prominent role in stressing the significance of demand management and economic efficiency; environmentalists have been active in introducing a more holistic view of ecosystems, underlining the importance of water for the environment and human health; social activists have vied for framing access to water as a human right.

【译文】水渗透到生活的各个领域和许多科学学科。水问题通常被视为技术问题，受理性化、优化和专家知识的最佳解决方法。然而，在过去三十年里，水问题已被证明是高度分裂的，并引发了热烈的争论。以工程师为中心的方法受到了对社会组织、机构、权力结构和更普遍的政治角色的关注或并行挑战；经济学家在强调需求管理和经济效率的重要性方面扮演了越来越突出的角色；环保人士积极引入对生态系统的更全面观点，强调水对环境和人类健康的重要性；社会活动家争夺将获取水作为一项人权来界定。