Today, our societies face great challenges with water, both in terms of quantity and quality, but many of these challenges also existed at points in the past. Focusing on Asia,  Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present  seeks to highlight the issues that emerge or reemerge across different societies and periods and asks what they can tell us about water sustainability. Incorporating cutting-edge research and pioneering field surveys on past and present water management practices, the interdisciplinary contributors together identify how societies managed water resource challenges and utilized water in ways that allowed them to evolve, persist, or drastically alter their environment.