Running Out of Water The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource

by Rogers, Peter; Leal, Susan; Markey, Congressman Edward J.

• ISBN13: 9780230615649
• ISBN10: 0230615643
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-17
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

While many believe that water is a renewable resource that will never go away, the truth is the availability of this essential element is delining. Global warming creates moonscapes where there were once snow packed mountains. Population growth has pushed demand straining our current supply almost ensuring that water will become as coveted as oil in the 21st century. As our supply of this precious resource declines, there are critical answers to answer: Can we learn to conserve? Can we find ways to renew this resource? Do we have the political will to act wisely before it is too late?Peter Rogers and Susan Leal are experts who have decades of experience between them dealing with the conversation and protection this precious resource. Through the use of case studies or "success stories", Rogers and Leal explain in accessible terms the water world with its all scientific, economic and political complications. With these success stories, they provide a prescription to address this crisis and manage future needs.Deftly weaving  science, politics, economics and human foibles, Running Out of Water offers a comprehensive look at the crisis - from the West coast where mighty rivers are being diverted for California's agriculture to Gulf coast of Florida where the snowbird retreats have grown into major metro areas outpacing their natural resources; to the traditionally thirsty parts of the world like southern India where the water is available but infrastructure to take it to the tap is limited or nonexistent. Focusing on solutions, Running out of Water lays out the political leadership, policy action and technology tools required to sustain out water supplies.

Author Biography

Peter Rogers is a leading water expert and professor of environmental engineering at Harvard and a senior advisor to the Global Water Partnership. He has written for many scientific journals including Scientific American on this subject, and has received a Guggenheim, and a Twentieth Century Fellowship.

Susan Leal  is the former general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. While running this large water and power utility, she established the first climate change consortium of U.S. water utilities. Leal is currently a fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University and heads an environmental consulting firm based in San Francisco, CA.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Turn On the Tap and Out Comes the Water	p. 1
Making It Last: Using Technology to Recycle Water	p. 19
Taming the Big User: Improving Agricultural Water Use	p. 47
Wanted: Public Involvement	p. 87
Valuing an Extremely Complicated Resource Leads to Wise Use	p. 123
Waste Not, Want Not	p. 155
Rivers as Shared Resources: Transboundary Conflicts and Compromises	p. 183
Water that Lasts a Thousand Years: Bottled Water	p. 211
Conclusion: So, Now What?	p. 225
Acknowledgments	p. 234
Bibliography	p. 235
Index	p. 243
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