The author, a professor at Duke University and an environmental policy expert shows how drinking water highlights the most pressing issues of our time, from globalization and social justice to terrorism and climate change, and how humans have been wrestling with these problems for centuries. When we turn on the tap or twist open a tall plastic bottle, we might not give a second thought to where our drinking water comes from. But how it gets from the...

"Water. The single most necessary element to sustain life. Brockovich warns that America's water crisis isn't looming on the horizon--it's already here. Superman Isn't Coming makes clear that the most precious resource on planet Earth is alarmingly polluted by toxins, hazardous waste, lead, fracking chemicals, and more. In the 20 years since her eponymous film, Brockovich has kept up the fight for clean water one town at a time. She receives thousands...

Looks at water-supply for children, focusing on the three forms of water, change in water, and why water molecules change.

Explores water used in homes, discusses where it comes from, what a septic system is, and what happens to the water after it is treated at the water treatment plant.

Relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family.

Answers the title question with a number of answers, such as rain, reservoirs, aquifers, and wells.