Long gone are the days of drinking naturally pure water from flowing rivers and streams. It is already common today for people to use bottled water or home water filtration systems for their drinking water. How have we come to such a predicament, and what can be done about it? Continuing pollution, ever-increasing population and industrial demands, destruction of the rainforests, and overpumping of the ground water are all responsible for the deterioration of water quality. But the underlying reason, as William E. Marks shows in this wide-ranging, thoughtful book, is a lack of understanding of and respect for the nature of water itself.Marks covers such diverse topics as water's role in the origin of the universe and of life, cosmic rain and water in interstellar space, water in the myths of various peoples and religious traditions, the power of water in the many forms it takes in the natural world, vortex energy and living water, water and the human body, water healing, and a history of water pollution. He offers hope for the future by discussing the work of such visionaries as Theodor Schwenk and Viktor Schauberger. Marks shows us that finally water can only be understood when it is seen as the mediator not only between life and death but also between the physical world and the spiritual world.