Water

WATER is an eloquent and thought-provoking look at our most precious resource, the source of all life and its nurturer. The presence of water has permitted the development of many great civilizations; its absence (sometimes its shockingly sudden absence) has meant the death of many others. From ancient times, when humans huddled close to water sources, to the present, when we use water resources recklessly and profligately (for instance, luxuriously watering golf courses in the Nevada desert), water has been as vital as air. But now the global supply is running up against the ever-increasing demands made by burgeoning populations, the uses and misuses of water are becoming the subject of urgent study, and the potential for conflict is growing as nations reach the limits of their resources.

We can no longer take water for granted. Wherever we look, its assured supply -- and its purity -- is at risk. We live at a time when almost none of the water in the world's major rivers is still fit to drink and when more than a billion people do not have the basic access to safe water enjoyed by the ancient Romans. All over the planet, aquifer and thus water table levels are dropping, sometimes alarmingly, and rampant pollution is poisoning far too much of what is left. In many critical parts of the world, such as the Middle East, countries are already in "water overdraft," using more water than they're getting.

Why are deserts spreading? What effects will climate change have on rainfall and water tables? How is pollution affecting the global water supply? If water caused social collapse in the past, might it do so in the future? Will water wars erupt in the twenty-first century? What arethe political and ecological consequences of "exporting" water from one river basin to another? Why are massive dams a problem and not a solution? Why is irrigated acreage per capita shrinking? In an insightful, informative, and entertaining narrative including reports from such global hot spots as China, the Middle East, the Sahara, and the appalling Aral Sea, Marq de Villiers examines all these questions and more and suggests some answers.