Hydrology, The forgotten Earth science

The remarkable levels of public health and safety enjoyed by the urban populations of the developed world are due in considerable part to investments in hydrology over the past century. While we have spent lavishly to cope with the scarcities and excesses of water, we have invested little in the basic science underlying water's role in shaping and reshaping our planet. Hydrology, the science of water, has a natural place alongside oceanography, meteorology, geology, and others as one of the geosciences; yet in the modern science establishment, this niche is vacant. Why is this?