The United Nations first put the global problem of the scarcity of freshwater for drinking and sanitation as a human rights issue on its agenda in 1992. In this valuable contribution, Bourquain (PhD), an attorney specializing in environmental issues in Germany, provides background on the causes of the worsening crisis, and examines national contexts of water management and international strategies of crisis management. He makes a cogent case for better linkage of international and human rights law in this regard including new international treaty law, new individual complaint mechanisms, and more specific interpretation of existing law. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)