Farming is possible where there is water. Firstly, it is all about rain. Secondly, rivers fed by rain and supplemented by reservoirs and dams, their reach augmented by canals and pipes, form a big part of all water supplies.  Thirdly aquifers, also fed by rain, are those underground layers of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures, gravel, sand or silt, the water extracted from them via wells and boreholes.

All these sources give people, animals and plants their drinking water, the potential for food production and untold lifestyles facets dependent on water usage in some form.

The South African farm depending on rain water collected in the farm dam without river replenishment, is invariably home to people suffering from chronic drought anxiety as a normal part of the lifestyle.

Comparatively few rivers on earth are spared those sad periods of running low or totally dry. Conserving water and keeping rivers clean are concerns rising in the human value system in many parts of the world. These days one eye is on the water supply, the other on human population numbers.