Part of the foundation of sound water policy and water management is reliable, scientific information. Now Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com), a global scientific publisher, is making a large pool of information on water available to all manner of experts, policymakers, and the public.
The company is doing this to coincide with the 20th anniversary of World Water Day, March 22. The United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Water Cooperation.
Springer’s Water Program brings together company publications from varied scientific disciplines. Researchers, administrators, engineers, lawyers and water sector experts can access specialist information to help them make far-reaching, sustainable decisions. The content will be drawn from more than a thousand new specialist articles from journals and books each year, according to a Springer news release. The most popular water-related downloads from journals are posted on the website and can be accessed free. Open-access articles are also clearly marked and available to anyone interested.
Basic issues on the movement, distribution, and availability of water are addressed, as are specific applications for producing, supplying, and treating drinking water. Platform users will find information on almost any aspect of the water sector, including national and international regulations and guidelines on water use. Content was selected in consultation with a committee of international experts.
“If the current trends continue by 2030, the world will confront a water crisis of a magnitude which no other generation has yet had to face,” said Asit K. Biswas, founder of the Third World Center for Water Management. “However, there is absolutely no scientific reason why the world should face such a crisis.
“There are solutions to all the world´s water problems and future scientific and technological advances are likely to make such solutions increasingly more efficient. Springer´s efforts to bring the relevant knowledge from different sectors and disciplines, as well as presenting solutions that are already working in specific parts of the world, to the attention of all professionals who are working on the problems, is not only laudable, but will also go a long way to ensure their solution.”
The Water Program contains comprehensive scientific information from all water-related disciplines, such as hydrology, water resources, water quality, water pollution, health, water industry and technology, water policy, water administration, and water management.
