Water is vital for our planet and every living thing on it. However, this essential resource has been misused, wasted and polluted by human beings for centuries. Around the world, it is used for bathing, transportation or simply for entertainment. It powers factories and too often serves as a dumpsite for waste. It is becoming increasingly urgent for us to realize that the polluted water that we send back into the environment is inextricably linked to the water we drink. While in developed countries we manage to protect our water supply by treating our sewage, drinking water in poor countries is too often a vanishing resource – even a luxury.