Water is more important than ever before. It is increasingly controversial in direct proportion to its scarcity, demand, neglect, and commodification. There is no place on the planet where water is not, or will not be, of critical concern.
Signs of Water brings together scholars and experts from five continents in an interdisciplinary exploration of the theoretical approaches, social and political issues, and anthropogenic hazards surrounding water in the twenty-first century. From the kitchen taps of Detroit, Michigan to the water-harvesting infrastructure of Tokyo, from the Upper Xingu Basin of Brazil to the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench, these essays flow through time and place to uncover the many issues surrounding water today.
Asking key theoretical questions, exposing threats to vital water systems, and proposing paths forward, Signs of Water brims with histories, ontologies, and political struggles. Bringing together local experiences to tell a global story, it centers water as history, as politics, and as a human right.

Robert Boschman is a professor of English, Languages, and Cultures at Mount Royal University, Calgary. He is the author of In the Way of Nature: Ecology and Westward Expansion in the Poetry of Anne Bradstreet, Elizabeth Bishop, and Amy Clampitt (2009) and co-editor with Mario Trono of Found in Alberta: Environmental Themes for the Anthropocesne (WLU Press, 2014).

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Sonya Jakubec is a Registered Nurse and Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Mount Royal University, where she teaches and researches community mental health and the health-environment connection.

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Robert William Sandford is the author of some 20 books on the history, heritage and landscape of the Canadian Rockies, including Water, Weather and the Mountain West (RMB, 2007), The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns (RMB, 2008), Restoring the Flow: Confronting the World's Water Woes (RMB, 2009), Cold Matters: The State and Fate of Canada’s Fresh Water (RMB, 2012), Saving Lake Winnipeg (RMB, 2013), Storm Warning: Water and Climate Security in a Changing World (RMB, 2015), North America in the Anthropocene (RMB, 2016) and Quenching the Dragon: The Canada–China Water Crisis (RMB, 2018). He is also a co-author of Ethical Water: Learning to Value What Matters Most (RMB, 2011), Flood Forecast: Climate Risk and Resiliency in Canada (RMB, 2014), The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer (RMB, 2014), The Climate Nexus: Water, Food, Energy and Biodiversity in a Changing World (RMB, 2015) and The Hard Work of Hope: Climate Change in the Age of Trump (RMB, 2017). Robert Sandford lives in Canmore, AB.

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