Product Description
With the many treatment and water quality problems associated with algae, this study presents its findings on: coagulation conditions, the utility of on-line in-vivo fluorescence, dissolved oxygen and pH measurements; effectiveness of conventional treatment; and effects of potassium permanganate preoxidatiion.Recommendations and treatment strategies are presented as well. ... Read more

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This book contains four sections encompassing major aspects of environmental hydraulic modeling. Beginning a discussion of turbulent flow in the first section, the papers go on to discuss channel flow modeling in Section 2, scour and sedimentation in Section 3, and pollutant transport in Section 4. ... Read more

Product Description
This research project looked at a newly emerging paradigm of water utilities supplying two distinct product: premium water for drinking and bulk water for other uses.They examined numerous unconventional approaches: bottled water distribution, point-of-use (POU), point-of-entry IPOE) device installation, neighborhood-scale treatment, water reuse, and dual distribution systems. Numerous evaluation criteria were used while also investigating two approach options: one dealing with regulatory compliance issues and the other with supplemental services.Many research findings are presented with a global conclusion that unconventional approaches hold considerable promise, especially for small systems and localized portions of larger systems. ... Read more

Product Description
Updated in early 2004, this new edition of SDW Advisor continues as the single information resource for those needing to comply or understand the compliance issues.It contains all the USEPA compliance documents and information including full explanations and clarifying annotations.With over 10,000 pages of supporting documents it also includes over 1000 hot links to related website resources, such as federal and state agencies. ... Read more

Product Description
Addressing threats to the world's water supply, this collection of essays by noted scientists, activists, water managers, and environmental writers discusses the growing problem of the lack of Earth's most precious natural resource, examines key issues confronting the world's water supply today, anAmazon.com Review
Each day at least 10,000 people worldwide die from disease-infected water. This is just one of the startling statistics contained in this collection of 13 essays, which address a wide variety of water-related issues, including global scarcity, pollution, privatization, poor distribution, and desalinization. In many parts of the world, useable fresh water (about 1% of the planet's total) is a resource more valuable than oil and even more essential to life. This book makes clear the sobering connection between inadequate clean water and poverty and the potential for increasing international conflicts (especially in parched places such as Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa), as well as some of the steps that might be taken to alleviate these problems: conservation, technological innovation, and effective cross-boundary water management. Its contributors--scientists, professors, journalists, and politicians--pile on one grim statistic after another, often repeating material from earlier chapters, which tends to dull what ultimately is a very compelling argument: that we use too much water, waste it foolishly, and degrade the environment by draining underground aquifers faster than they can be replenished.

By 2015, some 3 billion people will live in countries where fresh water is in short supply; by 2050, the number could be as high as 7 billion. Numbers this large are difficult to comprehend, which is why the most specific examples are the most horrifying. Consider the Taliban’s unauthorized construction of a dam on the Helmand River in eastern Afghanistan in the 1990s and its effect on neighboring Iran, where a 4,000-square-kilometer lake has been sucked bone-dry. All fish have disappeared and so has the village that until recently depended on catching them. What remains is an exposed lakebed, rapidly being covered by dunes from frequent sandstorms. A modest example maybe, but a particularly haunting symbol for a growing global problem. --Keith Moerer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Core selection, not a substitute for the master works
Published by the National Geographic in 2003, this is an edited work with several but not all of the greats brought together.The short pieces are a fine collage for undergraduate reading and discussion but the book does not make the jump to graduate-level thinking.I place it behind Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource published in 2001 and Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water, while also recommending The Atlas of Water, Second Edition: Mapping the World's Most Critical Resource and Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water as well as Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit.I have written summary reviews on all of them.

The book sets out to address (in a general but most informed way) the areas of water ownership, water scarcity, water conflict, and water prospects.Below I identify the author of the individual section, and then highlights that I retained from that section.

Paul Simon
+US has over 100 water disputes going on with Canada
+In 2003 Amman Jordan was so stressed that the tap could only be turned once a week

Douglas Jehl
+More and more people, less and less water
+"Fossil Water" has been consumed the way fossil oil has been consumed
+Attitudes and laws are the barriers to reform, not Earth or technology

Robert Glennon
+Federal regulations (when they exist) have unintended negative effects
+Exported water does not recycle into its home water basis
+Eastern laws require sharing, Western laws reward first-use which also means most used up
+Law make waste of water profitable
+Groundwater use is largely unregulated and hence unprotected
+"Disappeared" groundwater is an environmental catastrophe TODAY, witness Boston, Tampa
+Market systems do not properly internalize environmental costs
+Author appears to favor commoditization of water rather than water as a human right

QUOTE (10)To prevent the tragedy of the commons, we must break the cycle of unrestricted access to the common-pool resource (groundwater).

Maude Barlow: see my reviews of her two books and also Blue Gold: World Water Wars

Marq de Villiers:see my review of his book cited above.All my reviews are more easily found at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, where I also have reviews sorted in 98 categories including water for ease of rapid topical exploitation.

Margaret Catley-Carlson
+Water scarcity and water pollution connect directly with poverty and disease
+Political borders hamper responsible water management.See my review of The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State, Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush, and Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, among others.We are long over-due for a restoration of tribal boundaries and a rejection of the bulk of Western impositions on the South.
+Hybrid solutions seem to be working.THIS IS IMPORTANT.See High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to SolveThem for a similar conclusion.

Lester Brown:see my most recent review of State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability (State of the World)
+Water scarcity leads to food scarcity
+Long-term perspective are absent from decision-making (I and Ben Gilad would also tell you that "intelligence" is lacking as well--nearly every major decision is uninformed and based on political, ideological, or financial interests, not on reality.

Hans Schreier
+Mountains are the water towers of humanity
+Mountain role in water is poorly researched and poorly understood
+Global dynamics of the hydrocycle across regions is not understood
+Education is key

QUOTE (94):Agriculture is not only the most water-demanding industry, but is also emerging as the largest contributor of non-point source pollution."(e.g. soil acidification, nutrient deficiencies, water pollution, and concentrated phospherous)

Aaron Wolf
+World is running out of "easy" water
+Political lines make agreement very difficult
+International law is "poorly developed, contradictory, and unenforceable"
+Research does show that cooperation is the norm rather than conflict
+Time lags between negotiation, agreement, and implementation are very costly
+Strength of the institutions dealing with the water issue is the PRIMARY deterrent of conflict
+Unilateral actions (e.g. building a dam) lead to conflict
+Hybrid regional arrangments do work--this suggests to me that UN water agencies, once they are completely freed of corporate control, should spend more time on hybrid capacity-building
+4 existing water basins under stress will be joined by 17 more, impacting on 51 nations.8 of those basins are in Africa, 6 in Asia.

QUOTE (119):Few of them [the basins] are on the radar screens of water and security analysts."

Mike Dombeck
+Forests and watersheds are the cleansers of water
+Clearing forests also destroys land
+Impact on fish has not been well understood.
+We understand watersheds better now, but science has not been applied in remediation of past damages done

QUOTE (132): The symptoms are unmistakable.The collective effect of dams, water diversions, pollution, habitat destruction, and the introduction of nonnative species has led to the imperiled status of many fish and other aquatic species.[on the order of 35 to 65%]

David Hayes
+City-farm conflicts coming to a head
+History of first use in West has complicated sharing
+Cadillac desert construction (e.g. Las Vegas) has made it much worse much faster

QUOTE (145-146):Fundamental changes in demographics, culture, and values are coming to the fore at the same time that the traditional tools for brokering conflicting water needs are on the wane.

Bernadette McDonald and Doughlas Jehl
+Solutions include shift in attitude, acknowledging entire ecological context, and recognizing the importance of the hydrological cycle
+Solutions include drip irrigation, re-used water (gray water), desalination, pricing, end of water subsidies, and understanding the true cost of water

Observation: nowhere in this book did I see suggestions that we should drastically cut back on animal food sources.See Diet for a Small Planet for an example of the literature on that point.

David Schindler
+Praries depend on mountains for snowmelt in spring, glacier melt in summer, and groundwater the rest of the time
+Drought ALTERS the hydrological cycle and other landscapes
+Little has been done by governments to protect fresh water

QUOTE (168):Climatological history suggests that we are long overdue for a major drought, like those that lasted a decade or longer in centuries past.

David Suzuki and AManda McConnell
+We have an absolute need for air, water, soil, energy, and biodiversity
+Shift in thinking to remediate, and avoid future negatives, should be the priority
+Best path beyond efficiency demand productivity and matching of water means to human ends
+Government at every level has been negligent

Peter Gleick
+6 suggestions--buy the book for the best of this "top gun" water expert's thinking

QUOTE (187):The greatest water problems facing the world today are not the result of inadequate infrastructure, but inefficient water use, inappropriate allocations, water pollution, and ecologicial destruction.

David Jehl
+Desalination could be a panacea (but no mention of its toxic side effects
+"New" gray water will help (I am reminded of watering crops with Gatorade in the DVD Idiocracy)

Bernadette McDonald
+Water has an economic value (this scares me--see E.O. Wilson's thoughts in The Future of Life
+Sanitation is a vital starting point, agricultural dynamic is next
+Urgent needs for capital investment world-wide
+Importance of good (uncorrupt?) governance cannot be over-stated
+HYBRIDS emerging that work.

QUOTE (217):One of the more difficult goals [is] to determine the true value of water, its economic, social, environmental, and cultural value.

My concluding thought: among all the books I have read and reviewed on water, this is the one in which the lack of inter-disciplinary analytics is most visibly felt (by me, anyway).See the Strategic Analytic Model of the Earth Intelligence Network (links active at Phi Beta Iota) and especially the Holistic Analysis Circle for the ten threats and twelve polices of which Water is the twelfth.

PS:I cannot stand Amazon's limitations (e.g. ten links) or its arbitrary censorship of images, a primary reason why I created Phi Beta Iota.At Phi Beta Iota ALL links are active and lead either to the Amazon pages or to my own review pages for the book, each of which in turn always leads back to the respective Amazon pages.

An eye opener
There is an old saying in India that the milkman cannot resist adding a little water into milk to make a quick buck. Dear milkman, please be forewarned that this may no longer be an economically profitable practice, for the price of pure drinking water already exceeds the price of pure milk!

In the late 1960's and also in the 70's, as a school boy in rural India, I remember drinking water directly from taps, at most public places. There was no necessity to carry clean water from home, and the concept of packaged drinking water was unheard of even in the cities. But now, our monthly domestic budget has water costing more than milk for the family. If we add the cost of illness caused due to accidental consumption of contaminated water, then the price is a lot higher. Pure water costs and impure water hurts. It is a pity that every day over 10000 children worldwide, succumb to water borne diseases.

This book is a great source of information on a topic that is vital to human existence. The collection of essays not only brings out the vital importance, availability, scarcity, skewed distribution of fresh water on this planet, but also looks at the topic from a global, political, hydrologic, environmental, economical, business, social, ethical, and strategic perspective. In other words, the book provides a comprehensive view from a panel of experts looking at issues from a multi disciplinary angle.

Water is now defined as a human need, as apposed to a human right. This brings it closer to being treated as a commodity for human consumption, making it amenable for pricing as per market forces. Pricing of a product is economically viable only when it is scarce and there are costs associated with its sourcing, purification, distribution and recycling. Unfortunately, accessible fresh water that humanity had assumed to be abundant constitutes less than a percentage of all water sources on earth.
One essay warns of serious social impact especially on economically weaker sections in developing nations if multinational companies are allowed to freely exploit markets in water. Here there is a strong argument that water is a human right and governments have a key role to regulate the ownership and distribution of water and protect its people. In reality, we might soon arrive at optimal and viable solutions involving public-private participation.

The role of mountains as reservoirs of fresh water makes interesting reading in a couple of essays. There is a good case to have a re-look at government policies and programs in mountain regions and plough back down stream benefits to hilly regions for long term sustainability of these vital regions. Forests also receive their due share of importance as guardians of the hydrologic cycle.

Tourism and sports like skiing and golf, while providing entertainment and amusement to the urban elite, are significant factors that deplete fresh water availability argues another essay.

Water bodies know no political borders, be it underground aquifers or surface bodies like lakes and rivers. The mighty Nile spans nine countries, and the river Jordan also has multiple contenders for appropriating its limited content. One essay does a good analysis of the political impact of such situations, especially when the sources dry up and demand escalates across borders. Mark Twain is quoted "Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting" (It is not known whether this statement was made with or without the effect of the former).

One exclusive essay on the mighty Colorado River that crisscrosses multiple states in America is well written. It costs $ 15 per acre foot of water for the upstream farmer, while the wealthy downstream consumers in the Californian cities are willing to pay as high as $ 300 for the same quantity. Farmers are some times paid to take a vacation instead of farming, so that the urban populations get the requisite quantities of water.

While the book is great on analysis of issues it is weak on proposing concrete solutions, including estimates of investments in technologies and interventions that will provide adequate quantities of the nectar of life not only to mankind, but to all living beings on this beautiful planet.

A Problem Looming on the Horizon
After oil, then food, then water? The problems with distributing water are explored in an anthology fashion. This is an excellent book with surprising technical detail. Described herein is what will eventually lead to the downfall of the Chinese, the Indians, and yes, eventually the United States. Put simply: oil supplies fuel to run the pumps that withdraw water from unreplenished aquifers which supply the crops that feed an ever-growing population. Back in the early 70's I remember Playboy published a (Rand?) study showing what will happen when rising population meet limiting resources. This book would be a good follow-up to this study. I strongly recommend this book to everyone, especially, political leaders,business leaders, and others. This is a must read for everyone on the planet.

If this review was helpful, please add your vote -- Thanks. ... Read more

Product Description
Surrounded by salt seas, dimpled by shining lakes, and streaked by crooked rivers, Florida is a land of water. Many of Florida's plants and animals have adapted to living in its wet places. Divided into four sections--Oceans, Coral Reefs, Coastlines, and Wetlands--this books shows you who lives on ponds and wet prairies, in swamps and sinkholes, and in the vast Everglades. Discover who lives around the edges of Florida where the land meets the sea. Find out who lives in the oceans around Florida and on the only coral reef in North America.

This book introduces you to the many species of birds, mammals, fish, flowers, and trees that are dependent upon Florida's watery world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent resource for Florida teachers or homeschoolers!
I am a homeschooling mother. Wanting to learn more about Florida's waterways and wildlife, I checked this book out of the library, read a few pages to my chilldren every day, then checked it out a second time, and then, following my son's recommendation, decided to buy it. It is well-written and very engaging, a "living book" about Florida's natural resources. Very highly recommended. Answers many questions about the aquifer, sinkholes, swamps, and shoreline that are unique to our state.

The only drawback is that the illustrations are not in color. I would recommend using a FL field guide along with it to get a more detailed view of the birds and other animals highlighted. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

In short supply
Most of us have a pretty fair understanding of the basic water cycle from witnessing tea kettles, thunderstorms and creeks. Evaporation takes it up. Gravity brings it down. FRESH WATER fills in the rest of the story from groundwater to ice caps, through tree roots and into the fog. Ms. Pielou's clear prose and simple drawings and diagrams offer broad understanding of the intricacies of the earth's hydrology. "Life needs water," she observes. "Water doesn't need life."

Fresh Water
A clear and understandable look at fresh water, its various systems, its ecological impacts, and human impacts on water resources. Not only highly informative but easy to follow and interesting as well. A basic understanding of water chemistry and biology would be helpful, although not necessary when readin this book.

Little did I know.
Fresh water is becoming more and more scarce as we continue poluting it. This book is so interesting and informative I had difficulty putting it down. E.C. Pielou has enlightened and entertained me all at once and has succeeded in writing one of the most fascinating books I've read.

This book flows
As a professional whitewater guide this book caught my attention as I was looking to better understand my "office". While I found the early chapters on groundwater a bit dry, (no pun intended) I was unable to put down Fresh Water once it got above the vadose layer. I found it informative without being overly scientific, and now have an entirely different outlook on the water cycle. It is obvious this book was written by someone who truly enjoys the subject matter.

Reads Like A Textbook
If you enjoy reading college textbooks, then you'll love this one. Although it's well-written with many illustrations/diagrams, facts and definitions, I didn't find any pleasure reading it. Fresh Water lacked anecdotes, humor, interesting point-of-views etc....just a DRY, BLAND and extremely objective view of the cycles, forms and uses of water.However, Fresh Water would be excellent reference material. ... Read more

Product Description
International tensions around water are rising in many of the world's most volatile regions. The policy recipe pursued by the West, and imposed on governments elsewhere, is to pass control over water to private interests, which simply accelerates the cycle of inequality and deprivation. California, as well as China, South Africa, Mexico and countries on every continent already face a crisis. This book exposes the enormity of the problem, the dangers of the proposed solution and the alternative, which is to recognize access to water as a fundamental human right, not dependent on ability to pay. ... Read more

Product Description
The environmental problems caused by the increase of pollutant loads discharged into natural water bodies make it necessary to set up a framework for regulation and control. This framework needs to be based on scientific results that relate pollutant discharges with changes in water quality.

This volume contains papers presented at the ninth International Conference on Water Pollution: Modelling, Monitoring and Management. Over the years, this Conference has made valuable contributions to the knowledge of water pollution problems, which are essentially inter-disciplinary, involving a wide range of issues. The meeting also attracts colleagues from many different countries.

The papers published in the book have been divided into the following sections: Coastal Areas, Lakes and Rivers; Groundwater and Aquifer Issues; Environmental Monitoring and Sensing; Remediation; Experimental and Laboratory Work; Mathematical Modelling; Oil Spills; Wastewater Treatment; Low Cost Technologies; Agricultural Contamination; Pollution Prevention. ... Read more

Product Description
At a time when India faces serious problems of freshwater scarcity, groundwater depletion and environmental pollution, there is much to be learned from the lessons of past and present. This book examines critically what has been done and what more needs to be done to fulfill the promise of drinking water and sanitation for all . The central thread of the story is Unicef s 35-year program of support to rural water supplies in India one of the largest, longest, and most ground-breaking in the organization s history. Having helped to bring water and sanitation within reach of millions of India s villagers, questions now arise about whether these achievements are in jeopardy. As water tables drop and contamination mounts, how is village India going to cope?The book focuses on the Unicef experience but ranges wider, exploring community-led, NGO, and government approaches alike. From the Rajasthani farmer facing a fifth successive year of drought, to the sanitation mistri inWest Bengal, to the Mysore school children chanting safe water messages, this is an account which brings to life India s perennial problems with water and health, asking how and whether they can be solved. This is an important book for those working in the water supplies sector, in government and NGOs engineering students and academics involved in water water activists environmental and public health specialists those involved in aid and development work, especially in its international dimensions those interested in the story of social development in India over time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Ground for grumble about groundwater -- that'll learn them!
This reviewer should really keep his big mouth shut, since he has a stake of sorts in this, the world's so far most extensive water supply, sanitation and hygiene programme, albeit most of the time since 1970 through 1990 at respectful distance in space and time. That notwithstanding, I would like to take the opportunity of this forum to highly recommend, nay, urge, anyone interested in the development, use and care for the world's increasingly overused freshwater resources, to procure and carefully peruse this book.

This warm recommendation goes not only for water and sanitation specialists, including health and hygiene educators, and medical minds -- it should be heeded by anyone, interested in making life more livable and enjoyable for fellow man, woman, and child. No matter, where you live or work, whether in India, where the action of this remarkable history is taking place, or anywhere else in the world.

Maggie Black's and Rupert Talbot's very recently (2005) published "Water -- A Matter of Life and Health" is a combination of development history, a major evaluation, and, by implication, guideline and handbook. It deals not only with the giant efforts, now sustained for almost forty years jointly by the Government of India in close partnership with a number of national and international organisations, non-governmental (NGOs), bi- and multilateral. Foremost among the latter is UNICEF, United Nations Childrens' Fund.

Apart from amply and convincingly explaining what connection there is between a distinctly humanitarian body, such as UNICEF, and, initially, mundane technical matters, such as pneumatic and hydraulic drill rigs, and latrines, sorry, I mean toilets, this well-written book shows on the one hand the complexity of any attempt to improve the quality of life of the poorest of communities. On the other hand, it shows the doability of seemingly impossible aims.

A third aspect is that of the many pros and cons, which cropped out successively in India, as they have done in other regions of the world. Among the pros, the will-you-won't-you integration of water and sanitation with an ever widened scope of community action, the all too slow, but increasing acceptation and empowerment of women to do work, theretofore a firm masculine prerogative.

Volumes could be written as for comments on this, at first sight modest-looking volume. I would leave it to the avid reader to explore the rich food for thought it contains. The final chapter, though, should be especially commended for its emphasis on what concerns should be addressed in the continuation, not only in India, but all over the world. Against the background of the continued global population increase and pressure on the natural and human resources, that chapter, "Water, Life, and Health: Where next?" deals, among the cons, with the ever diminishing quantity of freshwater available, and its deteriorating quality.

One needs not be a doomsday prophet to feel apprehensive about the future for people in India or elsewhere in the world, when fresh water, the most basic of commodities for life on our planet begins to dwindle, and become poisoned. Neither are Maggie Black, one of the most savvy writers ever on human development, nor Rupert Talbot, one of the best practitioners for water and sanitation in development, any purveyors of doom and gloom. They do not provide any patent solutions, but they derive distinct recommendations for remedies to a difficult situation, not always well known to the world outside the villages and shantytowns of the increasingly impatient humanity, which half of the world's population is confined to.

"Water -- A Matter of Life and Health" should be in the hands of everybody involved or at least interested in making life easier and more pleasurable. For that sake, one would hope for some benevolent donor or donors to fund translations into other languages, as well as to help lower the price or even get it distributed for free for the readership in the developing countries. This may be utopian, but the cost would probably not exceed that of a howitzer or a truckload of Kalashnikovs.

Finally, in the light of the ongoing public debate around the justification and need for reform of the United Nations [system], this little book shows, incomplete and inadequate in many respects that institution may be, what with relatively modest means can be achieved by single nations and their people with the support of the UN system. Not the least -- as for the more ferocious critics among politicians and media moguls -- that'll learn them!

In that context, there are a couple of other highly valid books I would recommend for good supplementary reading about the aims, achievements and future potential of the fragile UN. without shying awary from its problems:Maggie Black's two histories of UNICEF, "The Children and the Nations" (UNICEF, New York, 1986), and "Children First" (Oxford University Press, 1996), and (Sir) Brian Urquhart's biography of Dag Hammarskjold, along with the same author's own memoirs, "A Life in Peace and War". They could or should all be found, no doubt, through Amazon's good services.

Ground for grumble about groundwater -- that'll learn them!
This reviewer should really keep his big mouth shut, since he has a stake of sorts in this, the world's so far most extensive water supply, sanitation and hygiene programme, albeit most of the time since 1970 through 1990 at respectful distance in space and time. That notwithstanding, I would like to take the opportunity of this forum to highly recommend, nay, urge, anyone interested in the development, use and care for the world's increasingly overused freshwater resources, to procure and carefully peruse this book.

This warm recommendation goes not only for water and sanitation specialists, including health and hygiene educators, and medical minds -- it should be heeded by anyone, interested in making life more livable and enjoyable for fellow man, woman, and child. No matter, where you live or work, whether in India, where the action of this remarkable history is taking place, or anywhere else in the world.

Maggie Black's and Rupert Talbot's very recently (2005) published "Water -- A Matter of Life and Health" is a combination of development history, a major evaluation, and, by implication, guideline and handbook. It deals not only with the giant efforts, now sustained for almost forty years jointly by the Government of India in close partnership with a number of national and international organisations, non-governmental (NGOs), bi- and multilateral. Foremost among the latter is UNICEF, United Nations Childrens' Fund.

Apart from amply and convincingly explaining what connection there is between a distinctly humanitarian body, such as UNICEF, and, initially, mundane technical matters, such as pneumatic and hydraulic drill rigs, and latrines, sorry, I mean toilets, this well-written book shows on the one hand the complexity of any attempt to improve the quality of life of the poorest of communities. On the other hand, it shows the doability of seemingly impossible aims.

A third aspect is that of the many pros and cons, which cropped out successively in India, as they have done in other regions of the world. Among the pros, the will-you-won't-you integration of water and sanitation with an ever widened scope of community action, the all too slow, but increasing acceptation and empowerment of women to do work, theretofore a firm masculine prerogative.

Volumes could be written as for comments on this, at first sight modest-looking volume. I would leave it to the avid reader to explore the rich food for thought it contains. The final chapter, though, should be especially commended for its emphasis on what concerns should be addressed in the continuation, not only in India, but all over the world. Against the background of the continued global population increase and pressure on the natural and human resources, that chapter, "Water, Life, and Health: Where next?" deals, among the cons, with the ever diminishing quantity of freshwater available, and its deteriorating quality.

One needs not be a doomsday prophet to feel apprehensive about the future for people in India or elsewhere in the world, when the most basic of commodities for life on our planet begins to dwindle, and become poisoned. Neither are Maggie Black, one of the most savvy writers ever on human development, nor Rupert Talbot, one of the best practitioners for water and sanitation in development, any purveyors of doom and gloom. They do not provide any patent solutions, but they derive distinct recommendations for remedies to a difficult situation, not always well known outside the villages and shantytowns of the increasingly impatient humanity, which half of the world's population is confined to.

"Water -- A Matter of Life and Health" should be in the hands of everybody involved or at least interested in making life easier and more pleasurable. For that sake, one would hope for some benevolent donor or donors to fund translations into other languages, as well as to help lower the price or even get it distributed for free for the readership in the developing countries. This may be utopian, but the cost would probably not exceed that of a howitzer or a truckload of Kalashnikovs.

Finally, in the light of the ongoing public debate around the justification and need for reform of the United Nations [system], this little book shows, incomplete and inadequate in many respects that institution may be, what with relatively modest means can be achieved by single nations and their people with the support of the UN system. Not the least -- as for the more ferocious critics among politicians and media moguls -- that'll learn them!

In that context, there are a couple of other highly valid books I would recommend for good supplementary reading about the aims, achievements and future potential of the fragile UN. without shying awary from its problems:Maggie Black's two histories of UNICEF, "The Children and the Nations" (UNICEF, New York, 1986), and "Children First" (Oxford University Press, 1996), and Sir Brian Urquhart's biography of Dag Hammarskjold, along with the same author's own memoirs, "A Life in Peace and War". They could or should all be found, no doubt, through Amazon's good services. ... Read more