Comparative International Water Research

The early decades of the 21st century will witness increased efforts to learn from water experiences and experiments in distant places and times. Water problems in different regions are increasingly linked through processes of globalization that drive the international diffusion of water technologies, policies, and water use patterns, as well as global climate change that has regional manifestations and teleconnections that cascade through regional hydrologic systems. Information technologies and international organizations will also facilitate comparative international water inquiry. But many areas, including wealthy countries such as the U.S., have been slow to draw upon international experience (Wescoat, Theobald, and Headington 2008). The U.S. National Research Council's (2004) report on Confronting the Nation's Water Problems: The Role of Research did not…