The video "Water in the Anthropocene", launched at the Opening Plenary of the GWSP Conference in Bonn, depicts the massive influence of humankind on the global water system of our Planet Earth.

Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene. Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways. 

The data visualisation was commissioned by the Global Water Systems Project for a major international conference (Water in the Anthropocene, Bonn, Germany, 21-24 May, 2013).
conference2013.thegwsp.org

As datasets build upon one another, the film charts Earth's changing global water cycle, why it is changing, and what this means for the future. The vertical spikes that appear in the film represent the 48,000 large dams that have been built.

Produced and directed by Owen Gaffney, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

Animation by Félix Pharand-Deschenes, Globaia