When the Rivers Run Dry: Water, the Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first CenturyThroughout history, rivers have been our foremost source of fresh water both for agriculture and for individual consumption, but now economists say that by 2025 water scarcity will cut global food production by more than the current U.S. grain harvest. In this groundbreaking book, veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce focuses on the dire state of the world's rivers to provide our most complete portrait yet of the growing world water crisis and its ramifications for us all. Pearce traveled to more than thirty countries while researching When the Rivers Run Dry, examining the current state of crucial water sources like the Indus River in Pakistan, the Colorado River in the United States, and the Yellow and Yangzte rivers in China. Pearce deftly weaves together the complicated scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the water crisis, showing us its complex origins-from waste to wrong-headed engineering projects to high-yield crop varieties that have saved developing countries from starvation but are now emptying their water reserves. He reveals the most daunting water issues we face today, among them the threat of flooding in China's Yellow River, where rising silt levels will prevent dykes from containing floodwaters; the impoverishment of Pakistan's Sindh, a once-fertile farming valley now destroyed by the 14 million tons of salt that the much-depleted Indus deposits annually on the land but cannot remove; the disappearing Colorado River, whose reservoirs were once the lifeblood of seven states but which could dry up as soon as 2007; and the poisoned springs of Palestine and the Jordan River, where Israeli control of the water supply has only fed conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The situation is dire, but not without remedy. Pearce argues that the solution to the growing worldwide water shortage is not more and bigger dams but greater efficiency and a new water ethic based on managing the water cycle for maximum social benefit rather than narrow self-interest. |
Contents
The Human Sponge | 3 |
When the rivers run dry we mine our childrens water | 33 |
When the rivers run dry the wet places | 65 |
When the rivers run dry floods may not be far behind | 105 |
When the rivers run dry men go to war over water | 153 |
When the rivers run dry civilizations fall | 183 |
When the rivers run dry we go looking for new water | 217 |
When the rivers run dry we try to catch the rain | 257 |
When the rivers run dry we go with the flow | 281 |
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acre-feet acre-feet of water acres Africa Amu Darya aquifer Aral Sea Asia basin beneath border British built canals century channel China Chinese cisterns Colorado cotton countries crops decade delta desalination desert dew ponds disaster downstream drains drink drought dykes empty engineers evaporation farm farmers feet fields fish floodplain flow gallons giant global grow Hadejia half huge hundred hydroelectric hydrological hydrologists India Indus Israel Israeli Jordan Karakalpakstan lake Lake Chad land largest marshes Mekong Mexico miles million acre-feet monsoon Nile North China plain once Pakistan Palestinians percent pipes plant poisoned population pump qanats rain rainwater harvesting reservoir rice rivers run dry salt says sewage silt soil Soviet spring supply tankers third thousand told Tonle Sap town tunnels underground water upstream Valley village virtual water water cycle water table West Bank wetland wheat Yellow River