Factors which account for the almost universal choice of water as a medium for textile dyeing processes are outlined. Many of the dominant trends in the development of improved equipment and processes during the last decade have been associated with the control and treatment of this essential resource. Typical examples include the strong links between water conservation and most of the effective ways of saving energy, improvements in effluent treatment plants to minimise the impact of water‐borne contaminants on the environment, exploitation of the possibilities for reuse of process water or treated effluent in further processing, as well as the direct objective of holding in check the rising contribution of water supply and effluent treatment to limit overall costs. This broad expanse of water, pure and impure, is surveyed from the viewpoint of the textile dye user, since, by virtue of the physical and chemical properties of textile dyes, he is also invariably a continual user of water.