To state that water management is a big issue today is an understatement. The World Bank and the World Water Council and all other water professionals around the world invariably speak of a 'Water Crisis'. They claim that water management can no longer be taken for granted for at least two reasons. In the first place, climate change and rise of the sea level demand new solutions for protection against floods. Secondly, as a result of climate change combined with a growing world population and progressive industrialisation and urbanisation, scarcity of fresh water will increasingly be an issue. This study considers water management as a universal issue. It analyses the latest thinking on water management in England and Wales and the Netherlands and asks how these countries respond to contemporary challenges. The present debate about privatization, both in England and in the Netherlands, is incomplete. It does not take all dimensions of the public private divide into account. Dicke suggests that the issue is not whether water management is provided by a nation state or not. The issue should be whether the dimensions of collectivity and visibility are well balanced.