Water is the most abundant molecule in the universe and it has evolved early after the big bang. It has properties which make physicists and chemists wondering as well as everyone else, only by different reasons. It arrived on earth on various ways and it took long until it was cool enough to be liquid. Life started in water. Water has global dimensions, as it acts as the universal air conditioning system as well as the universal washing machine, sending salt to the seas. It can cause huge disasters for mankind and evoke deep fears. But we also use it in a vast variety of ways: for drinking, heating, cooling, for food and beverage, for a wide spectrum of technical applications from microchip production, car manufacturing to paper production and, most of the freshwater, for irrigation. All this has strong political implications since long, as can be seen from the origin of the word „rival“ which literally means people who live a the same river, a word which has become a metaphor for competition. Water has a symbolic depth and is found in practically all religions in the world and is part of central myths in the tradition of humans. Both its beauty and violence are mirrored in art, psychology and in our souls.