LILLIPUT. Brobdingnag dominate in the new TV adaptation of that 18th century classic by Jonathan Swift. Yet for many fellow travellers of Lemuel Gulliver, Laputa is the land to watch.
Remember why? Here on this flying rock, academics and intellectuals rely on rotating cubes inscribed with scientific terms for their inspiration. Dr Gulliver is more than impressed with the Laputians "idea generation machine" - and with their system of management.
Take their water supple. Such is the island's declivity that dews and rains run in small rivulets towards four large basins in the centre. Exhalation by the sun prevents overflow by day.
By night? Well, the king has his royal hand on rainfall. He can raise Laputa above and below the clouds as he pleases.
Were our own Minister for the Environment to have such powers, it might make Bord Failte and local authorities happy. But would it cut out sheer waste? Speaking this week at the publication of a consultancy report on Dublin's water supply into the next century, the Minister Mr Howlin, said he was "startled" at the amount of treated water being lost through leakage in the greater Dublin area - almost half of the total daily supply.
Sustainability is the theme of the comprehensive EU funded report, which recommends various measures to reduce leaks to a more acceptable 20 per cent over the next five years. This would amount to £11 million worth of extra water available for use each year, the authors, Generale des Eaux and M C O'Sullivan and Co, say. At a time of controversy over inequitable water charges, they recommend, diplomatically, that people "be made aware of their use of water, and the costs involved" through a public awareness campaign.
In contrast to most of Europe, Ireland has been able to rely for 75 per cent of its water on surface reserves, which are usually replenished during, the winter.
Until the long hot 1995 summer, that is, and this last dry winter.
In the past, shortages were generally, short term, and more frequent in rural areas, due to a combination of poor distribution and increased demand.
Few local authorities had to consider extensive tapping of groundwater sources - Cork being one notable exception. Yet the experience of farmers in the Gort area of south Galway, who were hit by both floods and water shortages last year, indicates that there is something seriously amiss.
Two years ago, a US based company's proposal to buy Lough Corrib water for export to the Middle East was hailed in some quarters as a positive move that could yield £30 million and create 40 jobs.
When quality of supply is threatened by landfill dumps local residents are forced into action, at considerable cost. The plight of west coast islanders, exposed to tourist related droughts in high summer, is often ignored. Tourism is, after all, one of the most important sectors of our economy.
Take a pin and stick it anywhere on the world map and water is bound to be a much more controversial resource. More closely associated with oil conflicts, the Middle East is one obvious flashpoint. In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein's drainage of the Tigris Euphrates marshlands has caused widespread environmental damage - the aim being to crush rebel activity from Iran. Israel's chronic water shortage is a significant security issue.
Supply is one of the biggest challenges facing the South African government. Chronic, drought in the southern African states of Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi Mozambique, Zambia and parts of South Africa has been exacerbated by World Bank structural adjustment measures encouraging tobacco production.
BUT one does not have to look further than Europe. On a recent walking holiday in the mountains of northern Mallorca, we came across farmers who were most upset about the EU. An EU funded scheme to improve water supply to the capital, Palma, by drawing from the north threatened to wipe them out, they said.
"If they take away our water, Soller will disappear!" read one protest banner in four languages, displayed on white sheets on one farm fence near the pretty fishing port. Some 11,000 people from Soller and surrounding area had taken part in a protest, we were told.
"Water wars will dominate the next century, if major steps are not taken to use the resource more efficiently, the UN warned last month in a report. If there is not "massive improvement" in providing, managing and saving it by the year 2010, there will be a "monumental crisis", Mr Wally N'Dow, director of the UN Centre for Human Settlements, forecast.
Mr N'Dow, who is leading the UN's world conference on human settlements, better known as Habitat II, in Istanbul, Turkey in June, cited some alarming statistics. Already, some 80 countries have inadequate supplies, and almost 40 per cent of the world's population faces a daily struggle to meet basic needs. The dearth threatens health, industry, agriculture, he said, while pollution, waste and human greed is draining usable supplies.
Only two per cent of sewage in the developing world is treated before being dumped back into waterways, and 50 per cent of drinkable water is wasted or lost through leaking systems, illegal connections and vandalism, the UN report says. Unfair distribution systems contribute to increased poverty, malnutrition and child mortality.
Treatment of water as an economic commodity and the concept of private public partnerships will be major themes at the Habitat II conference, which is expected to attract some 20,000 participants. Closer to home, the theme is expected to arise at a major international conference on global poverty and health, to be hosted by the World Health Organisation and the Government at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, in early June.
Through two World Wars, changes in the Middle East, the boom in Texas and crisis in Mexico, the fate of international movers and shakers has been decided by a liquid substance - supply and demand for oil. If the combination of waste and bad management, global warming, tourism and agriculture doesn't destroy our liquid asset, 21st century TV "soaps" could be based in Kerry, or some other waterlogged Irish county.
