Water in Crisis

by Peter H. Gleick
Water in Crisis
Author: Peter H. Gleick
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
Total Pages: 473
Release: 1993
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780195076288
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Among the most compelling environmental issues of today and tomorrow are those concerning the world's fresh water resources. Peter H. Gleick's important new volume, Water in Crisis, addresses the timely and sometimes controversial aspects of world water use. At stake are water quality, quantity, and possible future conflicts over shared international water resources. Nine essays by leading specialists from fields as diverse as hydrology, zoology, and law, among others, cover such issues as the status of developments in international water law; hydroelectric power; the possible effects of climatic change on water resources; and the state of fresh water fisheries. Particular chapters explore access to clean drinking water and sanitation; the use of water for energy and food production; the quality of rivers, lakes, and inland seas; and the condition of natural aquatic ecosystems. A joint project of the Pacific Institute and the Stockholm Environment Institute, this book is a comprehensive guide to the world's fresh water resources. Hydrologists, engineers, policy makers, professionals in the environmental sciences, as well as lay readers will find Water in Crisis a dynamic resource and information-packed reference. More than 200 tables of fresh water data supplement this important volume.

Unquenchable

by Robert Jerome Glennon
Unquenchable
Author: Robert Jerome Glennon
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2010-04-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1597266396
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In the middle of the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas casinos use billions of gallons of water for fountains, pirate lagoons, wave machines, and indoor canals. Meanwhile, the town of Orme, Tennessee, must truck in water from Alabama because it has literally run out. Robert Glennon captures the irony—and tragedy—of America’s water crisis in a book that is both frightening and wickedly comical. From manufactured snow for tourists in Atlanta to trillions of gallons of water flushed down the toilet each year, Unquenchable reveals the heady extravagances and everyday inefficiencies that are sucking the nation dry. The looming catastrophe remains hidden as government diverts supplies from one area to another to keep water flowing from the tap. But sooner rather than later, the shell game has to end. And when it does, shortages will threaten not only the environment, but every aspect of American life: we face shuttered power plants and jobless workers, decimated fi sheries and contaminated drinking water. We can’t engineer our way out of the problem, either with traditional fixes or zany schemes to tow icebergs from Alaska. In fact, new demands for water, particularly the enormous supply needed for ethanol and energy production, will only worsen the crisis. America must make hard choices—and Glennon’s answers are fittingly provocative. He proposes market-based solutions that value water as both a commodity and a fundamental human right. One truth runs throughout Unquenchable: only when we recognize water’s worth will we begin to conserve it.

The Water Paradox

by Ed Barbier
The Water Paradox
Author: Ed Barbier
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0300240570
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A radical new approach to tackling the growing threat of water scarcity Water is essential to life, yet humankind’s relationship with water is complex. For millennia, we have perceived it as abundant and easily accessible. But water shortages are fast becoming a persistent reality for all nations, rich and poor. With demand outstripping supply, a global water crisis is imminent. In this trenchant critique of current water policies and practices, Edward Barbier argues that our water crisis is as much a failure of water management as it is a result of scarcity. Outdated governance structures and institutions, combined with continual underpricing, have perpetuated the overuse and undervaluation of water and disincentivized much-needed technological innovation. As a result “water grabbing” is on the rise, and cooperation to resolve these disputes is increasingly fraught. Barbier draws on evidence from countries across the globe to show the scale of the problem, and outlines the policy and management solutions needed to avert this crisis.

Water Crisis: Myth or Reality?

by Peter P. Rogers
Water Crisis: Myth or Reality?
Author: Peter P. Rogers
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2005-12-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781439834275
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Always considered a classic renewable resource, after a hundred thousand years of farming and industry, rivers in many parts of the world are running dry and the groundwater is over pumped. In addition, the rate at which water sources are becoming contaminated with waste from humans, industry, and agriculture is truly alarming. Do these factors add up to a water crisis that merits drastic, large-scale action? Not necessarily say the editors of Water Crisis: Myth or Reality. They challenge this pessimism, concluding that while there are serious global water issues to be considered, the concept of a global water crisis is largely overstated. The book examines the issues and explores which conditions are permanent and unchangeable and which are remediable and changeable. The chapters explore when and where severe regional and local water problems occur and make suggestions about how they may be solved in a deliberate, non-crisis manner. The book covers recent breakthroughs in desalination technologies, the eco-sanitation revolution, international trade in agricultural products, methods of governance and negotiation in water allocation, and pricing and devolution of property rights and the roles they play in solving water issues. The editors, along with a panel of world-renowned experts, suggest that water issues can be solved over the next few decades using new technologies and processes.

Water, Peace, and War

by Brahma Chellaney
Water, Peace, and War
Author: Brahma Chellaney
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2015-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442249285
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Now in an updated edition, this pioneering and authoritative study considers the profound impact of the growing global water crunch on international peace and security as well as possible ways to mitigate the crisis. Although water is essential to sustaining life and livelihoods, geostrategist Brahma Chellaney argues that it remains the world’s most underappreciated and undervalued resource. One sobering fact is that the retail price of bottled water is already higher than the international spot price of crude oil. But unlike oil, water has no substitute, raising the specter of water becoming the next flashpoint for conflict. Water war as a concept may not mesh with the conventional construct of warfare, especially for those who plan with tanks, combat planes, and attack submarines as weapons. Yet armies don’t necessarily have to march to battle to seize or defend water resources. Water wars—in a political, diplomatic, or economic sense—are already being waged between riparian neighbors in many parts of the world, fueling cycles of bitter recrimination, exacerbating water challenges, and fostering mistrust that impedes broader regional cooperation and integration. The danger is that these water wars could escalate to armed conflict or further limit already stretched food and energy production. Writing in a direct, nontechnical, and engaging style, Brahma Chellaney draws on a wide range of research from scientific and policy fields to examine the different global linkages between water and peace. Offering a holistic picture and integrated solutions, his book has become the recognized authority on the most precious natural resource of this century and how we can secure humankind’s water future.

When the World Runs Dry

by Nancy F. Castaldo
When the World Runs Dry
Author: Nancy F. Castaldo
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1643752278
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What would you do if you turned on the faucet one day and nothing happened? What if you learned the water in your home was harmful to drink? Water is essential for life on this planet, but not every community has the safe, clean water it needs. In When the World Runs Dry, award-winning science writer Nancy Castaldo takes readers from Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, to Iran and Cape Town, South Africa, to explore the various ways in which water around the world is in danger, why we must act now, and why you’re never too young to make a difference. Topics include: Lead and water infrastructure problems, pollution, fracking contamination, harmful algal blooms, water supply issues, rising sea levels, and potential solutions.

Drying Up

by John M. Dunn
Drying Up
Author: John M. Dunn
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2019-02-08
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 081306385X
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Florida Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction America’s wettest state is running out of water. Florida—with its swamps, lakes, extensive coastlines, and legions of life-giving springs—faces a drinking water crisis. Drying Up is a wake-up call and a hard look at what the future holds for those who call Florida home. Journalist and educator John Dunn untangles the many causes of the state’s freshwater problems. Drainage projects, construction, and urbanization, especially in the fragile wetlands of South Florida, have changed and shrunk natural water systems. Pollution, failing infrastructure, increasing outbreaks of toxic algae blooms, and pharmaceutical contamination are worsening water quality. Climate change, sea level rise, and groundwater pumping are spoiling freshwater resources with saltwater intrusion. Because of shortages, fights have broken out over rights to the Apalachicola River, Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades, and other important watersheds. Many scientists think Florida has already passed the tipping point, Dunn warns. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and years of research, he affirms that soon there will not be enough water to meet demand if “business as usual” prevails. He investigates previous and current restoration efforts as well as proposed future solutions, including the “soft path for water” approach that uses green infrastructure to mimic natural hydrology. As millions of new residents are expected to arrive in Florida in the coming decades, this book is a timely introduction to a problem that will escalate dramatically—and not just in Florida. Dunn cautions that freshwater scarcity is a worldwide trend that can only be tackled effectively with cooperation and single-minded focus by all stakeholders involved—local and federal government, private enterprise, and citizens. He challenges readers to rethink their relationship with water and adopt a new philosophy that compels them to protect the planet’s most precious resource.

Quality Unknown

by Richard Damania
Quality Unknown
Author: Richard Damania
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2019-09-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1464814856
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Water quantity—too much in the case of floods, or too little in the case of droughts—grabs public attention and the media spotlight. Water quality—being predominantly invisible and hard to detect—goes largely unnoticed. Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis presents new evidence and new data that call urgent attention to the hidden dangers lying beneath water’s surface. It shows how poor water quality stalls economic progress, stymies human potential, and reduces food production. Quality Unknown examines the effects of water quality on economic growth and finds upstream pollution lowers growth in downstream regions. It reveals that some of the most ubiquitous contaminants in water, such as nitrates and salt, have impacts that are larger, deeper, and wider than has been acknowledged. And it traces the damage to crop yields and the stark implications for food security in affected regions. An important step toward tackling the world’s water quality challenge is recognizing its scale. The world needs reliable, accurate, and comprehensive information so that policy makers can have new insights, decision making can be evidence based, and citizens can call for action. The report calls for a paradigm shift that emphasizes safer, and often more cost-effective remedies that prevent pollution by combining smarter policies with newer technologies. A key message of Quality Unknown is that such solutions exist and change is possible.

Water for Sale

by Fredrik Segerfeldt
Water for Sale
Author: Fredrik Segerfeldt
Publisher: Cato Institute
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781930865761
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This book "is an excellent argument for private management of humankind's most valuable natural resource. Its thesis is both provocative and suggestive - water is scarce in developing countries because of poor management, not because it is truly in short supply. Water policy affects the future of millions of people across the globe. Segerfeldt offers an efficient, sure, and safe alternative for this future." - back cover.