Credit: TimeLife

"Whomever of us goes without water for a week cries blood". With this gruesome description of a man dying of thirst, Sam Bozzo begins this weighty documentary on the state of the world's water.

As a biology graduate who has sat through her share of ecology lectures, I thought I fully understood the factors that are putting our water sources at risk. But within the first 20 minutes of Blue Gold, I found myself comprehending the problem on a new level, and oohing and ahhing at disturbing new facts - such as the possible link between our water problems and more frequent earthquakes.

The multi-award winning documentary lays out the problems that we're up against in a supremely clear way that, combined with the interviews from stacks of experts, leaves you without doubt of how severe the problem is.

The documentary is ominously and effectively narrated by Malcolm McDowell (for anyone who saw him play the corporate water lord in Tank Girl, the irony will not be lost), and reveals the worrying link between corporate giants and the water that we rely on to live.

Blue Gold will hopefully compel enough people to take action on this issue, because as the documentary simply points out, we're all united in our thirst.