"To achieve the sustainable use and development of water resources is a daunting challenge for both global and local communities. It requires commitments from all the groups within international, national and local communities from their on particular, possibly conflicting, perspectives. Without a set of coherent legal arrangements designed to ensure effective governance of water resources, their sustainable use and development is unlikely to be achieved. Douglas Fisher considers how legal arrangements for managing water resources have evolved across the continents over hundreds of years. He explores their relevance for contemporary society; how the norms of current international and national legal regimes are responding; and, most importantly, how legal rights and duties should be structured so as to achieve sustainability in the future." - back cover.