“Do we have but the water that falls from the Sky?” : Continuities of Technocratic Thinking in Socialist Czechoslovakia Shown by the Example of the Danube-Oder-Elbe Channel Project
Abstract
When a society is to be modernized, among the prerequisites is a dependable supplyof water for people, agriculture, and industry. As a consequence, modern techno-cratic schemes for future development have always dealt, among other things, withcontrol and administration of water resources. In the case of Czechoslovakia, theplan to link three important rivers, thus forming a nationwide water system, becamethe symbol of these endeavors. The idea to construct a channel joining the riversDanube, Oder (Czech: Odra), and Elbe (Czech: Labe), was first promoted at theturn of the 19thand 20thcenturies and gained greater popularity in the 1930s. At thecenter of the whole story were the members of the bureaucracy regulating watersupply and distribution.