In the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem the rime of the ancient mariner, the character spoke these words “water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink, water, water, every where nor any a drop to drink”. The ancient mariner’s curse was that he killed an Albatross that had been a good omen.  Our situation is a bit different than that of the ancient mariner with regard to the Albatross, but we do have issues of water supply and water quality that may be an Albatross about our necks if we don’t solve long-standing problems that confront us. We are aware that less than one percent of the earth’s fresh water is available for our use. The World’s population (according to the United Nations medium projection) is expected to be 7.8 billion by 2025.  A shrinking land base must provide food, fuel and fiber. Projections can be dangerous, but few will argue that irrigation has been essential in increasing food production in the past decades. Irrigated area will need to be increased to meet the growing demand for agricultural products. More irrigation will require access to and development of water sources. How do we as scientists and leaders in the stewardship of land and water resources address growing needs and shrinking resources? The goal of this symposium is to bring together individuals with an interest and expertise in using impaired water and in reducing the impairment of water through its use. We have asked each to address sources of impaired water and further to address how to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of these waters so that they may be safely consumed.