For some water might barely get a thought even as it structures our existence: showering, cooking pasta, hydrating, washing our clothes, growing the crops we need to eat. But beyond the obvious biological need for water, the management of it has been at the center of developing civilization, since irrigation was innovated by the Mesopotamians. For those living through drought or without access to potable water, it is hyper-present because of its absence. Whether it’s going to a well, laying pipes, or building a dam, creating chemicals to kill bacteria, the control of the water all around us is built on a complex network of labor that, like the H2O all around us in the atmosphere, is invisible—till we get caught in the rain.