When the Rivers Run Dry: Water, the Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first CenturyIt was with the Colorado River that engineers first learned to control great rivers. But now the Colorado"s reservoirs are two-thirds empty. Great rivers like the Indus and the Nile, the Rio Grande and the Yellow River are running on empty. And economists say that by 2025, water scarcity will cut global food production by more than the current U.S. grain harvest. Veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce traveled to more than thirty countries while researching When the Rivers Run Dry; it is our most complete portrait yet of the growing world water crisis. Deftly weaving together the complicated scientific, economic, and historical dimensions of the crisis, he shows us its complex origins, from waste to wrong-headed engineering projects to high-yield crop varieties that have kept developing countries from starvation but are now emptying their water reserves. And Pearce"s vivid reportage reveals the personal stories behind failing rivers, barren fields, desertification, water wars, floods, and even the death of cultures. Finally, 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 | 7 |
North America Crossing the Rio Grande | 13 |
Riding the Water Cycle | 23 |
Pakistan The Unhappy Valley | 31 |
When the rivers run drywe mine our childrens water | 37 |
India A Colossal Anarchy | 39 |
Halliburtons Job for Qaddafi | 49 |
The Worlds Largest Mass Poisoning | 53 |
The First Modern Water War | 171 |
Swords of Damocles | 179 |
When the rivers run drycivilizations fall | 187 |
Elishas Spring and the Mysteries of Angkor | 189 |
Losing the West | 197 |
Aral Sea The End of the World | 205 |
When the rivers run drywe go looking for new water | 221 |
Taking the Water to the People | 223 |
Mirages | 61 |
When the rivers run drythe wet places die | 69 |
The Common Wealth | 71 |
Lake Chad Tragedy of the Floodplains | 81 |
Seas of Death | 93 |
Mekong Feel the Pulse | 97 |
When the rivers run dryfloods may not be far behind | 109 |
China The Hanging River | 111 |
Changing Climate | 127 |
When the rivers run dryengineers pour concrete | 133 |
Wonders of the World | 135 |
Sun Silt and Stagnant Ponds | 145 |
Dams That Cause Floods | 151 |
When the rivers run drymen go to war over water | 157 |
Palestine Poisoning the Wells of Peace | 159 |
Sewage on Tap | 235 |
Closed Basins and Closed Minds | 241 |
Out of Thin Air | 249 |
When the rivers run drywe try to catch the rain | 261 |
Catch the Rain | 263 |
On the Grapevine | 271 |
Unfailing Springs | 277 |
When the rivers run drywe go with the flow | 285 |
Learning to Love the Floods | 287 |
Freeing Saddams Captives | 297 |
More Crop Per Drop | 303 |
Water Ethics | 309 |
317 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acre-feet acre-feet of water acres Africa Amu Darya aquifer Aral Sea Asia basin beneath border British built canals catch century channel China Chinese Colorado cotton countries crops decade delta desalination desert dew ponds disaster downstream drains drinking 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 numbers 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