Contents -- Foreword -- Abstract -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- INTRODUCTION -- PART ONE Genesis of the Debate on the Right to Water -- PART TWO Evolution of the International Legal Regime for Human Rights -- Early Developments -- The International Covenants on Human Rights -- PART THREE General Comments Issued by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- Evolution of the Role of the Committee and Its Early Comments -- General Comment No. 15-The Right to Water -- Derivation and Inference -- Centrality and Necessity -- Prior Recognition -- PART FOUR Legal and Policy Dimensions of General Comment No. 15 -- CONCLUSION -- Select Bibliography -- Appendix I Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Appendix II International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- Appendix III International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- Appendix IV Economic and Social Council Resolution 1985/17 on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- Appendix V General Comment No. 15-The Right to Water -- Index.