Molle François auteur aut IRD Lankford B. auteur aut IRD Lave R. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Quantification of states, corporations, nature or self has become pervasive in the past 40 years. The water world's struggles are rife with, and shaped by, numbers, indicators, metrics and models. This review explores how the production, promotion and use of 'water numbers' conceals deeply political processes, hypotheses, worldviews, intents, old habits and new fashions. Whether embodied in scientific or expert practices, or in indicators, thresholds, water accounts or cost-benefit analyses, water numbers promote specific values and interests; they also obfuscate complexity, heterogeneities and uncertainties, they manufacture legitimacy and authority, and they act as control devices to shape behaviour We offer a more detailed analysis of water indicators that describe water scarcity, ecological status, progress towards SDG 6, and embody New Public Management principles. We end with a call for critical water studies to more forcefully engage with these debates, in line with the centrality of quantification in water management and policy. specialized Sociology of quantification indicators legitimacy reductionism ontologies NPM science-policy interface commensuration modelling numbers MONDE 098 062 17 2 325-347 2024 1965-0175 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010090801 1965-0175 [F B010090801] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010090801 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2024-08/010090801.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2024-08-28 2024-08-28 fdi:010090801 fre