In all human societies, access to water sources has been a constant concern, even more established civilizations in arid areas with large populations. Many of the leading companies in history - in terms of political influence, economic, social and cultural - hydraulics led to its limits in order to ensure control and water supply. In fact, some historians believe the great power that meant having control of water in agrarian societies, which could have been the basis of the concentration of power in the eastern empires [1] . In Andean societies, part of a maximum vertical control of ecological [2] control depended on water, particularly in agriculture by terraces.
As we see, water has always been a crucial factor in the development of different societies in different periods. The problem of water lines as we have said before, is focused around accessibility, collection, transportation, distribution and use, with these complex issues in themselves and a challenge for engineering. However, today we realize that the problem went beyond the material dimension, infrastructure and the satisfaction of human needs.
The water problem involves a number of variables between which have been integrated into the ecological, social relations and culture. These relatively new lines that make up water issues make visible the critical current resource availability and the crisis that could arise in the future on the basis of the shortcomings of today.
Then the water problem has new edges that compel us to look at the issue of water resources in a holistic manner. But what are those conditions that have caused so much concern about the water?
We start with a quick reading of the geography of the planet. If we look at the globe we will realize that there are areas with abundant vegetation, other extremely dry, a warm climate, some with rainy weather, flat terrain, steep terrain, etc. So we can say that the planet has an uneven natural distribution of water. At first glance, it is also possible to observe that although the water to three quarters of the planet's surface (roughly 71% of the surface), there are areas that completely lack the resource and are inhabited by human beings. In this case, the problem is the uneven natural distribution of water, but the process of human occupation of the territories. Despite this, the people settled in areas with scarce water developed ways to get it. This differentiation
between geographical areas with abundant water sources and arid, with populations that have developed ways to ensure sufficient water supply for their survival, add a crucial factor: the anthropogenic climate change [5] . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - an international team of studies on the consequences of climate change - one of the most characteristic and destructive effects of this phenomenon is an intensification of the climatic conditions in some areas of the planet [6] : rising temperatures in desert places, flooding more often in vulnerable areas, drought. Climate change is also favorable conditions for the melting of glaciers which are permanent freshwater reserves.
The contamination of water sources (rivers, groundwater, lakes and seas) resulting from mining activities (mining) and processing (industrial) water resources unusable for human consumption and, thus, destroy biodiversity accompanies it.
In addition, fresh water was always a scarce resource defined by its accessibility, today is availability, since there are fewer sources of where to get it. On the other hand, is not just about the loss of a material that is indispensable to us, we are talking about the biodiversity that exists there. If water is a lifeline that connects with our own ecosystems How relevant is treating it as a resource?
[1] Despite having been discussed by failing to integrate other dimensions beyond the hydraulic control (see: Wittfogel, 1966), these theories led to open a field of study are now exploited as studies on water related issues.
[2] View: Murra, John. economic and political formations in the Andes . View: Cap. 3. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1975
[3] The Romans also marked by building fountains, public baths and water channels, as well as the construction of aqueducts for transporting water.
[4] View: Landes, David. Wealth and Poverty of Nations . Download: The invention of the invention , p. 77 to 95. Buenos Aires: Javier Vergara, 1999 and Oakley, Francis . The Medieval Experience . See: Chapter III. Making and Doing, The Nature of Economic Medieval Life, p. 94 to 102. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1974
[5] This means "manmade."
[6] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - Working group II . Climate Change: 2007. Climate Change Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability . 2007