Larry Mays contributed to a book recently hailed as “The Water Book of the Year, Decade, Millennia” by the international organization 300in6, which promotes water sustainability.
Mays, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, co-edited the book “Evolution of Water Supply Throughout the Millennia,” and co-authored five chapters.
Published in 2012 by the International Water Resources Association, the book examines major achievements in development of technologies and engineering systems used in water management throughout the past 1,000 years and draws lessons that can be learned to aid in solving today’s global water supply and safety challenges.
On its website, 300in6 calls it a book that “vibrates with impassioned knowledge that engineers sometimes allow themselves,” that is “both gorgeous and instructive” as it “sweeps us from the early treatment and delivery of water in such societies as ancient Egypt, Greece, Mexico and Peru, up to today.”
The book puts into sharp perspective the dilemma faced today as more than three billion people have limited access to safe water, says 300in6, which describes itself as a “hybrid group” consisting of several organizations dedicated to supporting development of global sustainability strategies.
Mays’ co-authors are Andreas N. Angelakis of the National Foundation for Agricultural Research in Iraklion, Crete, and Demetris Kousoyiannis and Nikos Mamassis, both of the Department of Water Resources at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Mays recently won an award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for his contributions to engineering in the fields of planning, development and management of water resources. [Learn more]
He has spent years researching ancient water technologies in an effort to relate modern-day water resources sustainability practices to those of the ancients, especially in developing parts of the world.
During his career, Mays has been the author, co-author or editor-in-chief of 23 books. He has photographed the sites of many ancient water systems around the world, and many of the photographs have been published in his writings on the topic, including the book “Ancient Water Technologies,” published by Springer.
