The world's emerging water crisis has ignited efforts to reconnect policy to human values. According to the book, all approaches to managing water, no matter how grounded in empirical data, involve moral judgments and cultural assumptions. Each of the book's six sections discuses a different approach to thinking about the relationship between water and humanity, from utilitarianism to eco-feminism to religious beliefs. Contributors range from Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church to Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom and water policy expert Sandra Postel. Water Ethics will help readers understand how various moral perspectives have guided and will continue to guide water policy around the globe.