This book focuses on a stream in New Hampshire and how it and other bodies of water have been affected by changes in technology, economic values, new forms of pollution, new ideas about nature and the occasionally unintended consequences of human action. The time period is from the industrial revolution to the present day. The geographic scope is largely New England but also includes recent experiences in other parts of the United States and the world.  The book is as much about people as it is water with stories about conservationists, artists, reservoir managers, government officials, water power people, fishermen, scientists and ordinary citizens around water.