To mark World Water Day, the UN issued its World Water Development Report for 2021. Included is a highlight on best water management practices and a toolkit to help policymakers move toward a valuation of water that optimizes goals such as efficiency and balanced allocation. Water is a complicated topic with its value highly variable based on availability. Smaller countries with abundant rainfall have low withdrawals for agricultural use. Large countries with large populations have larger withdrawals. Water gets even more complicated when overlaid with concepts such as the right to water, historic religious practices, and goals such as maintaining biodiversity. Countries with relatively fewer water resources and under the threat of losing...