Based on a comparative analysis of two case studies, thisbook presents a comprehensive and systematic examination ofurban water management in the light of environmental theory.A complex model structure of the subject matter portrays itas a system of interlocking subsystems covering themanagement structure, the inventory and the urbanhydrological conditions. The system itself is also viewedwithin its wider urban ecological context of interactionbetween urban and industrial development, land use and thephysical environment. This analytical grid also provides theframework for the evaluation of water management reforms,remedial strategies, programs and plans.By seizing upon a crucial problem setting for arid landresearch, the author most poignantly reveals the complexrole of water management within the context of environmentalcrisis. The choice of urban regions - ]r}mqi, Xinjiang, andPhoenix, Arizona - within systems as culturally andpolitically different as the United States and the PR ofChina is apt to give an up-to-date display of the mainissues of the topic within a global perspective. The evidentsocioeconomic contrast between the two systems projects adifferentiated notion of the Third World's predicament inthis respect, and leads the reader on to explore theopportunities - but also the definite limitations -involvedin the transfer of high-standardWestern know-how.