Hat wasserbau eine zukunft?

Human beings and water are closely related to water supply and demand. On earth water supply and demand differs regional and over the year considerably. To adjust water supply and demand according to the necessities of mankind impacts in river system for storage (dams), diversion (canals) and irrigation are unavoidable. In this paper these necessities were focused on the examples of rivers in Egypt, China, Nepal and Germany. Our cultural scene is in change since mankind is living on earth. Today mainly countries in Africa, Middle and Far East and in Asia are suffering from lack of water. Worldwide the same countries have the highest birth rate. In order to avoid the increase of the water crisis which might go along with armed conflicts, short term solutions are required. Water resources engineering in these countries is one of the main challenges of today and tomorrow. Consequences for education of young water engineers are shown at the end of this contribution.