Colorless, tasteless, odorless, ageless: water is both the simplest thing on earth and the most complex. We cannot live without it, yet water-borne illnesses kill 6,000 children a day. It is the ultimate renewable resource but we pollute it on a heroic scale. In this enthralling voyage of discovery, Rupert Wright sets out to discover exactly what water is and why it plays such an important role in history, culture, art, and literature. He penetrates to the heart of the developed world supposedly bringing piped water to the poor, and visits a bishop in Brazil willing to give up his life to save a river and a child in India who waits by the roadside every morning for a bucket of water. Why, if water is so valuable does nobody want to pay for it unless it comes in a designer bottle? Is it really the oil of the 21st century? Will we all soon be fighting over it, or can it lead countries into cooperation rather than conflict?
