(The Basis of Civilization – Water Science? – Proceedings UNESCO/IAHS/IWHA Symposium held in Rome, December 2003 – IAHS Publication 286, pp. 284–290).
Water science, initially applied, has evolved in an interactive mode with civilization. Although it is difficult today to imagine civilization in a nonurban context, with the expansion of cities in the 20th century, civilization began in small groupings of families, in caves or other shelters. The disappearance of civilizations is usually on a secular scale similar to that of major droughts, which have tended to destroy purely agrarian societies. However, subsidies in industrialized counteries, and technical progress have decreased such outcomes. Progress produces other problems such as in the construction of large dams, their societal and ecological effects, and sometimes of their rupture. Such catastrophes bring with them the pressures of global communication systems and of rumour. They also lead to criticism of engineers and scientists, who are increasingly pressurized to produce results of practical improtance. Such a role of governance in water science is not always beneficial.
Andes, China, Civilizations, Dams, Disasters, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rivers, Rome, Scientific progress
