In the past two decades several activities in the field of water
resources management have been enhanced and intensified. This . rise had
at least two independent reasons. The first and main one was the
constantly increasing water demand for agriculture and industry on one
side and the concern about the deteriorating environment on the other.
While this last concern was lately overshadowed by deterioration of
national economies, the quantity of available water resources has
certainly not increased with the growing scarcity of funds for its
development and protection. Furthermore, the standard of living, which
raised across the world, even in India and China, countries which
concentrate more than a third of the world population, has made people
and their governments more aware of natural disasters caused by weather.
Since a large percentage of losses in human life and material damage
from weather-related disasters are caused by water, either by its excess
or scarcity, the concern about water has been increasingly associated
with these disasters. The second reason for intensified water resources
management is man's spectacular technological advance in electronics,
computers and use of satellites. The Koran says that two things cannot
be predicted: the sex of the child in its mother's womb and the quantity
of water that falls from the sky and flows in rivers. Technological
progress has disproved both of these caveats.