Product Description
The Second Edition of Economics of Water Resources: FromRegulation to Privatization updates and expands theexposition of the authors' central theses concerning: 1.the integration of water quantity--quality issues, andthe treatment of water as a multi-product commodity, with the marketplaying the major role in the determination of waterquality--discrimination pricing;2.the drawbacks of publiccontrol, regulation and enforcement, and the need to expandprivatization of water supply and of water and wastewater treatmentfacilities to ensure their appropriate, adequate, development andmodernization through increased reliance on private capital;3. the unification and centralization of water management at river basinlevel in order to handle effectively the expanding pressures for wateravailability, for the evaluation of waterborne disease, for extensiveand effective pollution abatement as well as for coping with therelated issues of soil erosion, siltation in streams, channels andreservoirs, protection against stress from drought and floods, andwith myriad problems relating to the environment, recreation andnavigation.While expanding and updating the underlying data, the authors maintainthe basic division of the book into four parts. Part I presents theconceptual framework within which are examined the interactingelements in the management of water resources and the role of marketin water pricing and in quality-graded quantity of water. Part IIfocuses on water quality control, on the nature and impact ofpollution, on water recycling and reuse, and on the prevailing policyinstruments. Part III points to the deficiencies of engineeringsolutions in the choice of public expenditures needed for theconstruction of water systems and stresses the role of privatizationand of centralization at the level of river basins. Part IV underlinesthe need for coordinating all supply programs, projected demand,recycling and reuse. Economics of Water Resources: From Regulation to Privatizationprobes the fundamental concepts concerning the regulation andprivatization of water resources, of water pricing, of public policiesconcerning the allocation of water supplied to users, and examines allof the issues involved in a truly market-determined framework.It aims to inform and prepare all persons interested in the study andmanagement of water problems. The book can be used in courses on waterresource management and planning, economics of water resources, or asa basic reference work on water resources in general. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Good Introduction
I believe that the authors reaches his goal of introducing the reader to water management and some of the current issues related with this resource. He succeeds in showing the contrasting view points on several on going debates.

He also provide a substantial amount of data and different references for the reader to explore. ... Read more

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The Indispensable Guide to the Next Global Crisis: Water

“No water, no life. Are you wondering how this planet can be ‘running out of water’ when it still rains and rivers flow? This book is your guide. Colin Chartres has lived his life to improve the management of the water that gives life to all. His lessons are worth learning.”

–Margaret Catley-Carlson, Member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board, Chair of the Global Water Partnership, and former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF

“Chartres and Varma ably combine sound science and intelligent writing to illuminate the enormous technical and managerial challenges inherent in meeting the world’s rapidly growing water needs. Wisely, Out of Water pays special attention to the complexities of managing water for agriculture, by far the largest consumer of water worldwide and the major contributor to water scarcity.”

–Roberto Lenton, Chair, Inspection Panel, The World Bank

“Ensuring that we use water more wisely, more productively, and less profligately will be one of the defining challenges...of this century. There are solutions, and while implementing these will not be easy, they are achievable, as pointed out in this book.”

–From the Foreword by Dr. Joachim von Braun, Director, Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Customer Reviews (8)

Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity
Authors Chartres and Varma come from a very strong back ground on the subject of water issues throughout the world.Chartres back ground includes director of International Water Management Institute and 35 years of experience in research. Varma covers women's issues and equity of water worldwide and the effects of poverty and it's relationship with water use and control.The book takes the reader methodically through the Mideast countries to the causes of water scarcity and the effects of population growth.Authors takes a common problem in each chapter from Biofuels, farming and diet around the world and finally concluding with solving water problems. Highly recommended.

Useful info, but fails to engage the reader
The subject matter is of the utmost importance, and the book conveys some good information even for those who already know something about the world's water problems. Unfortunately, the presentation leaves much to be desired.
The writing style is stiff and repetitive. The reader begins to feel that each chapter makes the same points, just stated in a slightly different way (e.g., water scarcity is driven by population growth, the shift toward meat-intensive diets, competition between water users, slow adoption of efficiency measures, and climate change effects).
The graphics are not helpful. The black-and-white photos, most of them taken by author Chartres, are not well composed and don't do a good job of illustrating the points that the authors are trying to make. The charts and maps generally are too small (in a couple of places, multiple world maps on a single page!) and their color-coded information is hard to discern because they're in black-and-white.
The target audience isn't clear. At some points, I thought the book was directed at readers who are new to water scarcity issues, but other passages seemed more appropriate for academics and others already well versed in the issues. In any case, as other reviewers have suggested, the last chapter probably should have come first, stating a position that the subsequent chapters would seek to support.
Despite conveying some valuable information and insights, I don't see this book as a stimulating introduction for those who are new to the issues. For more informed readers, it offers a very limited solution set. For example, desalination is mentioned a couple of times, but only to remind the reader that it's an expensive option. But what if we were to invest more in improving its affordability and scalability?
For a much more engaging investigation of water issues (though limited to the United States), see Robert Glennon's Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It.

An Already Leaking Band-Aid of Airhead Pluralism
This is a good book in that it surveys in some detail, and with examples, current pluralistic thinking about water and its problems.It is mildly repetitive and a bit academic in tone but worth the read for certain. If you are not aware then read this book and become aware!It is a bad book in that it seeks to propose the sorts of pluralistic social and political policies that have failed every time they have been tried in confronting immutable reality back to Suetonius's "Lives of the Caesars".The authors' conclusions are a recipe for more and bigger statism and social revolution.They conclude with an absolute requirement for the increased involvement of women.That is not the way to confront impending disaster.And, though they paint a rosy picture of such activities, the authors barely touch on the many failures of that sort of thing.Are we, I sometimes wonder, taking immigrants from Mexico and points south rather than giving them their entitled outflow from the Colorado and Rio Grande (that trickle at the Gulf)?

I well remember when I was first exposed to environmental modeling and the coming water shortage.It opened my mind and scared me half witless.I didn't sleep well for weeks.Perhaps it was because I had seen my first dead animals in the woods the week before and they haunted my dreams; perhaps because I was in the fourth grade; or perhaps it was because it was the mid 1950's.So I have been worrying and waiting for this book for half a century.This is no joke; no tempest in a teapot!

Later I was trained as an engineer and later as math modeler and I learned that huge problems usually have simple solutions that the bright folks have forbidden.Figure 1.3 (Global Population Trends) shows half the answer.Cut population drastically.The other half is contained in developing technology which the authors discuss not at all.Cheap and "clean" energy (in engineering not gaeian terms), closed systems, fungus based food systems, and desalination [The oceans are HUGE compared to fresh water sources.] could buy us an urbanized future like several science fiction novels.The authors don't go there.

Their approach is to talk about where we are and "viable alternative" ways to work our way forward.All well and good if you are only interested in the next half century or so till we really hit the wall.A previous reviewer mentions the rumors that folks like the Bilderbergers are working on plans for perhaps an 85-90% population drop as an excuse for genocide.Lay that particular brand of racist ugliness at Margaret Sanger's feet where it belongs!The problem with population reduction is that if you don't do it "right" civilization will collapse entirely.If you don't do it at all the ecosystem will do it for you and it will be messy as hell... literally.And I hope somebodies besides me are thinking about it.And for their and your guidance, a world population of less than 250 million is a good target (That's 96%.) if we want to get through the next few hundred millennia.

But again, do become aware before the steamroller of social and political egos rolls over you while you are looking the other way.This is a good place to start.

Dry and Hopeful at The Same Time
Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World's Water Problems"No water, No Life..." is of course, true and the book defines the world's problems, but places a focus on a handful of problems and reads in the manner of the driest of technical textbooks, that is dry (pun unintended, but still fun) and lifeless. When writing college research papers and one textbook, I learned quickly, the old adage, "for every chart and formula, you lose 5%-10% of your readership," unless they are in full color and sexy. (Last, line outside of quotes, my own.) if true this book will have few readers.

Details of percentages and amounts are abundant, and speaking of charts, it is without question, as the book shows, that the USA, Australia, Italy, Japan, Spain Norway, France, Austria, Denmark, and Germany, in that order are the top ten users of water. The above are also among most clean and hygienic nations of the world, most healthy and the least thirsty. In addition, if you have traveled much you know that nations which are mostly agrarian, use more water. Jefferson planned for America to be an agrarian nation; sadly, it is less so today than some of the others in the chart as listed above.

The book seemed a little bit lifeless, it was lacking in exciting/excited language and further motivation for wide readership outside of academia and if that was their goal they succeeded excellently. I thought that a bit more passionate personality in the author's writing style could spruce it up, and without meaning to be sarcastic, the book thus becomes a candidate or a good tonic for those who suffer from Sleep deprivation. It did not stimulate me, despite the massive amount of information and probably because of how it was presented. Out of Water, suffers from the lack of a certain accommodation of stylistic attractivety. It some places is missing a common sense approach. It does, however, offer some practical, as well as some pie-in-the-sky solutions, the latter of which would require the rich and powerful to give up their obvious advantages to the poor and weak and that is unlikely to occur sans an invasion/intervention of the Archangel Michael and his armies.

That much water is wasted is a genuine problem. Several groups other than those cited by Colin Chartres and Samyuktha Varma have tackled the water problems with huge investments and innovation, but there is scarcely a mention of Sea Water Desalinization in Out of Water, so I added some sources for the authors and the public to consider, though it is expensive in use of energy. However, if Geothermal HVAC is combined with Solar Shingles that problem is overcome over a reasonable period of time, especially when taking advantage of grants, subsidies and other perks that often accompany Geothermal/Solar Shingle systems in several states.

"The world's largest desalination plant is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2) in the United Arab Emirates. It is a dual-purpose facility that uses multi-stage flash distillation and is capable of producing 300 million cubic metres of water per year. By comparison the largest desalination plant in the United States is located in Tampa Bay, Florida and operated by Tampa Bay Water, which began desalinating 25 million gallons (US Gal.) (95000 m³) of water per day in December 2007. The Tampa Bay plant runs at around 12% the output of the Jebel Ali Desalination Plants. A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal states, "World-wide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association." - (Wikipedia:[...]

I have written in my columns more than once that looming not far ahead will be huge battles, Water Wars, nor will they be fought with hoses, or guns, though they might, with the rich hiring mercenaries as they did to try to bust the unions with mercenary goons in the 1920's/1930's, but mostly through lock-outs and underground drilling piracy, stealing water right from under the noses of those with deep Artesian Wells.

Many think the problems of outstripping supplies of water, food by a growing population and fewer jobs cannot be solved, but a few think they can and they think it will be very easy. I think it is called Genocide. Allegedly the Bilderbergs, Fascists, New World Order "crazies," as HGW Bush Senior called them, and others are rumored to have a plan in mind much like that of the advocates of population control by assisted attrition, helped along by ignoring natural and man made disasters, and bent on simply through a variety of means killing off 85%-90% of the World's population. Like Adolph Hitler's, plan it is mostly aimed at minorities or aside from themselves the always hated, "others."

What nations will come forth with a workable plan and fund it before Earth resembles its own Moon? Doubtful that America will. We are covered with fascist obstructionism that blocks funding anything that is meant to assist the "working classes," (other than wars of attrition)

There is nary a doubt in my mind that this is America's and the world's greatest challenge. However, other nations, nations which have put business in it's proper place, such as the Scandinavian nations, or commune nations may find it easier to succeed. In our nation, the two parties are now united by hugging the same lack of virtue, the one which Jesus, St. Paul and many of the prophets called avarice/greed, properly translated, as, "The love of dynastic (unspendable), wealth, is the root source (cause) of ALL evil..."

And that fits nicely with the motto of today's, version of Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21), which appears to be, "There is no tomorrow, so to the Hell with tomorrow, live only for today. Drill baby, Drill today, for I and my friends are all that matter and this lifetime, as far as I am concerned is the last, and let my children/grandchildren, fend for themselves tomorrow..."

It is that selfish avarice with which moralists, conservationists and survivalists have to contend. That makes the growing need for a united effort to create a means of accessing water which is not too expensive, an even more formidable, and probably a losing battle, unless, La voix du bon Dieu, is heard once again across Planet Earth and He deigns to grant us the reincarnation of FDR.

Skip all the way to the end
The best way to read this book is to skip to the very last chapter, "Solving the World's Water Problems".And if you really can't stand it, skip to the last two pages for the table "Actions Required to Underpin a Blue Revolution".If you have any questions about those actions, find the appropriate section in the last chapter and/or the appropriate chapter in the rest of the book.

I have no issue with the information presented (for the most part), but the way it was presented made this most essential subject as dry as dirt (pun intended).Water is of utmost importance for human life and livelihood even without a developing worldwide environmental disaster; it is a subject we are familiar with in some way.I therefore went into this expecting to like it, and I was disappointed.

This says what all intelligent books on environmental subjects say: we need technology, but we need governance and regulation even more.Further, we need to explore and address the social, economic and historical issues that have contributed to the inequalities of distribution.Good- it's a format I expect, and that should make this easier to read.But this was very difficult to read, in large part because the writing was so stilted and illogical in places.The reader understands what is being communicated, but you need to read it twice in several places.

Another frustration of the book was that they seemed to depend on a handful of cases, particularly the Murray-Darling Basin (a lot), the Southwestern United States, South Africa and India.I would have liked information about more places, but more importantly I would have liked a success story.There was very little of that, although I don't blame the authors- it does seem that those are genuinely difficult to find.

As someone who is very interested in food and food justice, I wasn't surprised at all that agriculture is the biggest consumer of water and that growing meat consumption is exaggerating that.They dropped a tantalizing hint about grass-fed cattle as perhaps playing a role in mitigating the usage of water, but then dropped it.This was a short book- I would have liked to have seen more on that.

They lay out a reasonable if not compelling general course of action that is low on specifics- again, probably not the author's fault.But that all happens in the last chapter, if not two pages- the rest can be seen simply as reference for that. ... Read more

Product Description
Climate change and an exponential population explosion threaten the world's supply of fresh water, edging us closer to a global water crisis, with dire implications for agriculture, the economy, the environment, and human health. Completely revised and updated since its first edition, The Atlas of Water is a compelling visual guide to the state of this life-sustaining resource. Using vivid graphics, maps, and charts, it explores the complex human interaction with water over time and across the world. This vibrant atlas addresses all the pressing issues concerning water, from human impacts like dams and construction to water shortages and excessive demand, pollution, privatization, and water management. It also outlines critical tools for managing water, providing safe access to water, and preserving the future of the world's water supply. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Single Best Book on Content, Visuals, and Price
This is one of twelve books on Water that I have read or am reading, expecting to get through all of them in the near term.

In comparison to the other works, this is the single best book when considering content, visuals, and price.This is the one book to buy if you want just one book and for that reason it is the only 6 in the lot, although Marq de Villier's book, the last one listed below, is in that group as well as the first book to really put it all together.Here are ten other books, reviews for all of which will be posted here at Amazon and at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog where you can access all my reviews on books about water with one click.

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water
Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation)
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Whose Water Is It?: The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink
Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource

It is a real shame the publisher has not posted the table of contents, which I find to be one of the most holistic and useful I have seen in a very long time, and/or used Inside the Book capabilities that Amazon makes so easily available.

The books consists of 35 two pages "stories" with text on the left and graphics on the right, and I think this is so very cool I am going to list all 35.They in turn are followed by eye-glazing but essential tables of data on water.

PART 1 A FINITE RESOURCE
01The Global Water Pot
02Water Shortage
03Rising Demand
04Dwindling Supply
05Competition and Conflict

PART 2 ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES
06Climate Change
07Urbanization
08Altered Flows
09Draining Wetlands
10Drylands and Drouights
11Floods

PART 3 WATER FOR LIVING
12Water and Drinking
13Water for Sanitation
14Water at Home
15Water and Disease
16Disease Vectors
17Water for Food
18Dispossession by Water

PART 4 WATER FOR ECONOMIC PRODUCTION
19Irrigation
20Water for Industry
21Water for Energy
22Water for Fisheries
23Transport and Leisure
24Water for Sale

PART 5 DAMAGED WATER
25Water Pollutants
26Water Pollution
27Damaged Waterways
28Threatened Ecologies

PART 6 WATER FOR THE FUTURE
29Millenium Development Goals
30Treaties and Obligations
31Deepening Co-Operation
32Managing Water
33Water Footprint
34Water at a Price
35Technological Fixes

Published in 2009, I consider this to be one of the most intelligent and best designed and most informative books I have touched in some time.It also introduced me to volumes I did not know about, such as The State of the American Empire by Stephen Burman, and several others on regions, religions, endangered species, etcetera.The "model" that this book represents is precisely suited as a foundation for a digital World Brain and Global Game, and I set this book aside reluctantly [I donated my library to George Mason University, and as a wandering warrior now ship them all my new books after I have read and reviewed them--trying not to mark them up the way I used to.] ... Read more

Product Description
Managing Water as an Economic Resource examines the roots of the widespread crisis in the world's water sector. Most countries treat water as a plentiful and ``free'' resource. This results in a search for new supply sources at escalating costs and allows wasteful supply, delivery and consumption systems to persist. James Winpenny argues that planners, managers of water utilities and consumers must begin to treat water as an economic resource. He explains the benefits of allowing the private sector to supply more water and the importance of encouraging water markets where the resource will be most valued. Using global case studies, he evaluates the improved management of existing demand and offers suggestions for introducing measures which would treat water as an economic good. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Very good practice questions
The Six-Minute Solutions guides are great, especially when preparing for the afternoon portion of the Civil PE exam.Yes, the questions are generally tougher than what you will see on the exam; that's why they are good practice.These questions are in-line with what you can expect on the exam, however the questions are a little more challenging and usually require a few more steps to get to the answer.You wouldn't want an overly easy practice exam and then get slammed on the real exam.

These guides are split up into morning type questions and afternoon type questions.I found that these guides were great preparation for the PE exam.The solutions are detailed enough to follow along and catch your mistakes.The solutions provided are way better approaches to answering the questions than any of the Lindeburg references, and they have fewer mistakes than Lindeburg.Some of the solutions to the Lindeburg guides are just outright wrong.The best guide for practice questions is the NCEES practice exam, but these are a wonderful supplement.

I highly recommend getting the Six-Minute Solutions guide for whichever afternoon session you plan to take.If you do plan to take the Water/Environmental afternoon, get the older separate Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Problems: Water Resources and Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Environmental Problems guides.This one just combined those two, so there are just fewer questions overall.

Your most basic study library should include the Lindeburg Civil Engineering Reference Manual, the NCEES Practice Exam, and the Six Minute Solutions guide for your afternoon session.

Irrelevant
This book is filled with assumptions and some of the solutions are actually incorrect.Waste of money.

Good Book, Hints Are Annoying Though
I really like this book. I like how the problems are laid out and are slightly harder than those on the exam. However, I find the Hints at the bottom of every problem annoying. I try to put my finger over them when reading the problems because there will be no hint on the exam and I want to attempt to figure out how to solve the problem on my own. I like the idea of the hints, but wish it was in it's own section preferably between the problems and solution section.

Yes these questions are harder than the test
The questions in this book are much harder than the test, but that's ok. My background in Environmental engineering is not very strong, so having a study guide that was harder than the test just better prepared me.

Whether or not this it helped me pass I don't know yet. I think that I get my results in about 4 weeks.

Helpful on PE Exam
I found this book to be very helpful during the exam.I was able to use some sample problems to help my way through exam problems.The book is broken down into problems you'll see in the morning section and problems you'll see in the afternoon section.It is further broken down into categories of the types of problems.Most of the afternoon problems in this book were more difficult than the actual exam problems. ... Read more

Product Description
Discusses how human activities and carelessness are polluting Earth's water supply and what must be done to clean it up. ... Read more

Product Description
The fresh water supplies of the Earth are finite and as theworld's population continues to grow humanity's thirst for this waterseems unquenchable. Intense pressure is being exerted upon freshwaterresources and a lack of adequate clean water is seen as one of themost serious global problems for the 21st century. Indeed it has beensaid that the next war will be fought over water, not oil. Humanhealth and the health of supporting ecosystems increasingly dependsupon our ability to find, control, manage and understand water. In a single volume, The Encyclopedia of Hydrology and WaterResources provides the reader with a comprehensive overview andunderstanding of the diverse field of hydrology. The intimateinclusion of material on water resources emphasizes the practicalapplications of this field, applications which are indispensable inany modern approach to the subject. This volume is a vital referencefor all hydrologists, hydrogeologists and water engineers worldwide,whether they are concerned with the exploitation of new sources ofwater, the protection and management of existing reserves, or thescience of surface water and groundwater flow. 114 eminent scientists from 17 countries worldwide have contributed tothis authoritative volume. Superbly illustrated throughout, itincludes almost 300 entries on a range of key topics, including aridand semi-arid zones, climates and climate change, floods and droughts,desertification, entropy, flow measurement, groundwater, hydrologicalcycle, hydrological models, infiltration, karst hydrology,paleohydrology, precipitation, remote sensing, river pollutionprevention, rivers, lakes and seas, satellite hydrology, soil erosion,water treatment, water use, weather radar, and world water balance. ... Read more

Product Description
"Praise for previous editions The author's presentation is balanced, his references are current, and his treatment of the legal and economic aspects of water resources planning and management is particularly good . . . Well suited to the student population for which it is intended." -Environment "Provides a clear, professional, and comprehensive picture of water resources planning, and would serve as an excellent textbook or reference volume." -Professional Geographer "It covers all aspects of water resource planning and management. . . Despite the amount of ground covered, however, it is entertaining and easy to read." -The Geographical Journal ". . . Figures and tables are clear and informative. . . ." -Water Resources Bulletin The revised edition of this popular text for advanced undergraduate and introductory graduate courses offers a comprehensive survey of all aspects of water resources planning and management. The third edition includes a new chapter on stormwater runoff management and a significantly revised chapter on water resources modeling, as well as updated information on water use trends. Discussions of international trends toward water pricing, privatization, and globalization of water resources provide a look at the possible future use and management of the world's water resources. Website references are added throughout the text that provide easy access to the vast array of relevant internet information on water resources and a new appendix gives information on a number of important water resources." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Would definitely buy again
Great service, product received in a timely fashion and in condition expected. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Thought Provoking Read
This is a very well researched book which first of all explains where we are now with regard to water shortages in the world and then goes on to place us in our current context in an historical perpective.

Whether climate is changing currently due to man made pressures or not the globe has been through large weather, water and heat cycles over the millennia. Using data from the past this book projects forward to give us an idea of where we are going.

Finally, the book points out ways the authors feel that an investor could profit from the coming water - and indeed global resource - shortage.

[...]

Well written and deserving of 5 stars (in my humble opinion)

Climate, rainfall and drought data from amateurs
Horrible waste of money. These fellows know nothing about the subject and try to push the idea of 70 and 500 year "cycles" as if the current anthropogenic global warming has nothing to do with our increasingly severe droughts and floods. Have a look at their credentials -- these are not scientists. They're both conservative businessmen. Listen to their interview with Jim Puplava and you'll have a good idea of what I mean. If you are really interested in this subject, get When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century. Now that's a good book. ... Read more

Product Description
This path-breaking book focuses on the law and legal doctrine within the wider policy context of water resources and analyses the concept of sustainability.

To achieve the sustainable use and development of water resources is a daunting challenge for both global and local communities. It requires commitments from all groups within international, national and local communities from their own particular, possibly conflicting, perspectives. Without a set of coherent legal arrangements designed to ensure effective governance of water resources, their sustainable use and development is unlikely to be achieved.

Douglas Fisher considers how legal arrangements for managing water resources have evolved across the continents over hundreds of years. He explores their relevance for contemporary society; how the norms of current international and national legal regimes are responding; and, most importantly, how legal rights and duties should be structured so as to achieve sustainability in the future.

This detailed textual and linguistic analysis of legal doctrines and instruments in relation to water resources will be invaluable for international and national water resources policy analysts, water resource managers and water resource lawyers. Students of water resource management, sustainable development and sustainability will also find this book of great interest to them. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Evolving Series, Multiple Authors, Deep Value
Although I continue to recommend The Atlas of Water, Second Edition: Mapping the World's Most Critical Resource as the best overall combination of content, visuals, and price, this book is a solid five stars and represents not just the current biennial report, but in the comprehensive index and tables of contents at the back, the volumes that preceded this one.

This is a multi-author work, and whiled Peter Glick is clearly the lead, other authors are Heather Cooley, Michal J. Cohen, Mari Morikawa, Jason Morrison, and Meena Palaniappan.I continue to be annoyed by Amazon's oblviousness to academic standards in relation to properly crediting authors, even when publishers correctly list them.

I am very glad to see that the publisher used Amazon's Look Inside the Book capability and strongly recommend studying the book through that route if you have any doubts.This is a fairly priced master work.It is not for the average reader, for that I continue to hold Marq de Villiers Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, but any of the following that I have reviewed or will be reviewing in the next few days are world-class:

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water
Governing Water: Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation)
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
Whose Water Is It?: The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
The Blue Death: The Intriguing Past and Present Danger of the Water You Drink

This volume focuses on peak water, business reporting on water, water management in a changing climate, millenium development goals,China, US lessons on urban water efficiencies and provides four water briefs on Tampa Bay, the Salton Sea, the Threee Gorges Dam, and for me the most interesting, Peter Gleick's Water Conflict Chronology, a riveting 40 pages or so that start with 3000 BC and the six day storm,and ends in 2007 with the Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire water development dispute.

Neither "water footprint" nor "true cost" appear in the comprehensive index, and that could well be a candidate for the next volume.The tables of contents of the first six volumes are mind-boggling.This is clearly, as a set, the "Reference A-Z from an international perspective, but I also feel somewhat helpless as I assess both the mass of information that is proferred, and the lack of a Global Game means of really visualizing and connecting all of this to the ten high level threats across the twelve core policy domains, the twelfth being Water.

Dr. Gleick, a co-founder of the Pacific Institute, is a global figure and a MacArthur Fellow.From his bio page there: His research and writing address the critical connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources.He is clearly a cut above the writers of individual books, and a critical human mind in the small network of true experts on all matters having to do with water.

The World's Water 2008-2009
Peter Glick is one of a handfull of professionals in the global water business and is a respected expert.Although his point of view is more toward conservation and less toward the development of "new water" I always read what he has to say.The update of water conflicts is an enormous tool in my public presentations to unbelievers.

Ric Davidge
Chairman
AQUEOUS International
"The Water Czar"

A series of articles on water issues around the world
Island Press's biennial report on freshwater resources provides a series of articles on water issues around the world, from water quality in China and managing urban water use to statistics on annual water resources, access to safe drinking water by country both past and present, development goals, population growth and water usage, and more. Any library strong in urban growth, social issues, or resource management in particular must have this latest report. ... Read more

Product Description

Far more than oil, the control of water wealth throughout history has been pivotal to the rise and fall of great powers, the achievements of civilization, the transformations of society's vital habitats, and the quality of ordinary daily lives. In Water, Steven Solomon offers the first-ever narrative portrait of the power struggles, personalities, and breakthroughs that have shaped humanity from antiquity's earliest civilizations, the Roman Empire, medieval China, and Islam's golden age to Europe's rise, the steam-powered Industrial Revolution, and America's century. Today, freshwater scarcity is one of the twenty-first century's decisive, looming challenges and is driving the new political, economic, and environmental realities across the globe.

Customer Reviews (13)

Brilliant. Informative.
Apologies for the 1 month delay in posting. I have been buried in a 500 page tome on the history of the world. Again! But I'm back to the surface, and have much to report. First of all, my work in Asia is in the Water business, and I considered it a huge advantage to keep myself not only informed but extremely well read on future projections and the latest in water technology, so I decided every now and then, I'd get a `Water' book. This is my first. And it's a doozy.

You may remember the "Ascent of Money" was effectively the story of money, going back to the ancient times, well Steven Solomon's "Water" is essentially the exact same scope and timeline, but focusing on water. And it's actually worth it for anyone to keep up on this subject, but I would advise against a novice jumping into this book. While the historical accounts (in amazing detail) of the Chinese innovation, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and eventually, the Steam Engine in Britain, which led to the Industrial Revolution, are amazing,...there's just so much information in here, at times it feels like you're studying for a Final exam. But give the author credit for taking on such an amazing task.

Make no mistake, this is not just a timeline of `scientific developments'; what Solomon set out to do with this book is draw connections between the development of water technology, as well as the natural waterways/lakes/oceans, and political power. And that's where the real `Aha' moments come from.

For example, in China, few foreigners (like myself) recognize that the Grand Canal (constructed est. 600AD) which spans from Hangzhou to Shanghai all the way north to Beijing, was actually the start of high volume Chinese communication, transport and trade, and was part of the reason the Chinese were so confident that they didn't need much from outsiders-shutting out foreign contact for hundreds of years thereafter.

In Egypt, the great Nile river, has always been the lifeblood of the country, used for irrigation systems, and eventually power generation (early turbine technology). Amazingly, the transport along the Nile was aided by an incredible bidirectional water flow, which meant traders and merchants could traverse North and South on this amazing highway, with relative ease. They had a very similar system to the Chinese, but naturally.

The point is this, to travel 100 miles by foot was often exhausting and dangerous and tediously slow, while getting on a raft and cruising upriver was much more pleasant in almost every way. This huge efficiency improvement shaped much of the worlds development, even up until the 19th century, when in the United States, investors and governors where pushing for very ambitious Canals for the very same reason. In fact, one of America's great shining moments was the opening of the Panama Canal, a monumental feat of engineering, joining the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, such that trade routes could now pass straight through to Asia from Europe (and vice-versa), with America collecting the toll on every ship.

But there was a turning point, and it goes back to the very first wooden `turbines' in China, and Egypt. We, as a species, have always thought of water as free. You look to the Ocean, and all you see is vast horizons of it. It is everywhere, it pours down from the sky, and gushes down from the mountaintops.The human body is mostly water. So basically this planet, and everything on it, is chock full of water. We've basically treated water as a resource-a commodity of infinite supply-that we can do anything we want with. However, when we started building dams, for Hydroelectric power, we changed something: we started to divert and displace massive volumes of water. It seemed like the Hydroelectric dam would give us everything we ever wanted-free power, using naturally rushing waters to spin huge turbines and store electric power-but it did something else. It changed the environment. We now have incidents in India and China where rivers do not reach the oceans, as they once did. At the same time, our global population is booming, we're expected to hit 9 billion brothers and sisters by 2050. These two elements should have us on the edge of our seats.

And what of the next 40 years until then? More so than Oil ever did, what we are doing now with water will shape future alliances, and wars. Those who have the most resources, and the least population, will be freed of this challenge, and rise to the top in terms of development, power and wealth.

Understand that, unlike Oil, which has been fought over for ages, we cannot live without water. We cannot live without drinking it, and we cannot live without planting crops and irrigating the land. For our cheeseburgers, the farm animals must first be fed and be given plenty of water to drink. These indisputable facts are what is leading to not just power struggles, but wars. Even the most docile and peaceloving nations, without access to drinking water, must negotiate to get it, or must fight for it.

Of course, I'm an optimist so I'll end on a positive note: in developed countries, citizens use about 30 times the amount of water used in developing countries. That's our opportunity. Those in developed countries, in the same way we aspire to give great amounts of money to charities, shall aspire to not only cut down on their own consumption, but donate water/water credits to developing countries. Walking the soft path towards a harmonious existence not only with our brothers and sisters, but also with this planet, is the key to redemption. That's the message. We have 40 years to practice it.

More reviews like this on 21tiger

Michael Robson
21tiger - books/biz/asia

Solid, but nowhere near spectacular
This is a good **starting place** for modern water use issues along with an interesting historical overview. BUT, on the issue of water issues today, it's ONLY a **starting point.** Nothing more, and nothing to gush about.

First, there's not much, if anything, new here. I did learn one or two new things about ancient hydraulic civilizations, especially China, but I'm sure I could have learned them elsewhere.

Second, as far as U.S. water issues, Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert" is the gold standard, period, even though he did before he could do a third edition to take account of global warming and climate change issues. And, Reisner doesn't restrict himself to the U.S., either. And yet, it gets mentioned but once, in passing, by Solomon. Ugh.

Third, as far as developing world water shortage and sanitation issues, Rose George thoroughly covers this issue in "The Big Necessity." Solomon may not been aware of her work while writing his, so that's not an issue. But, he simply doesn't give much depth to that.

Fourth, he talks but briefly about water privatization issues. With the rise of neoliberal economic policies in more and more of the developed world, and through their levers of the World Bank and IMF, this is a big issue.

Fifth, there's a variety of minor errors and one big oddity. NOBODY uses "Centigrade" temperature mentions; it's "Celsius."

So, if you want an OK or bit better overview of these issues, this book is a good starting place.

In a class by itself, more to be done
This book is in a class by itself, and for the US audience, I would recommend The Atlas of Water, Second Edition: Mapping the World's Most Critical Resource, this book, and Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters or the more recent Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It as well as When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century and The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink.

For the international audience, this book is a very fine complement--despite lacking visualization and a more interesting lay-out on both water technologies over time and the environmental challenges they generated (with what time lags)--to the top world view books.If you buy only one, Marq de Villier Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource is still the very best single book, followed by Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water now also a DVD Blue Gold: World Water Wars, and the original short book Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit.There are others, you can find my reviews of all water books I have touched at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, under Reviews/Water (middle column far down).All my reviews there lead back to the Amazon page of the respective book.

Over-all this is a very intelligent book, and unlike most of the other books that focus on the water cycle and its problems, this book focuses on water in relation to the larger civilization.It does not, however, do what books like 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, which is to catalog indigenous knowledge about water management that is starkly relevant today.

The strategic points the author emphasizes are:

01Water innovation now leads to environmental problems later.No one has ever thought through the overall context of water use in relation to everything from poverty and disease to family and society.

02Water, not oil, is the bell ringer on the 21st Century demand that humanity finally recognize its limits and its responsibilities, and get serious about holistic behavior.

03New forms of governance, not just new technologies, will be critical innovation factors.I like this but neither Water Footprint nor True Cost nor Environmental Economics are in the index and I do not see any analytic model within this book--see the Strategic Analytic Model and especially the Holistic Analysis--Water Central Graphic at Phi Beta Iota (active links in my review there).

I almost dropped this book to a four because it lacks the two things I really hoped for in a book of this particular nature:

01Single page reviews of specific water technologies and their relevance today (e.g. barges on the Erie Canal true cost per ton compared to rail and truck)

02A specific program of innovative investment.The author says that 180 billion dollars a year must be invested in infrstructure, but I have to struggle to put the pieces together (all the while thinking about our 3 trillion elective war on Iraq, and our 12 trillion criminal-treason bail-out of Wall Street millionaires who are also pathological liars to the public and the government).

However, this is a master work, the author clearly met his own goals of a historical review, and I cannot do better.I give him high marks for getting the percentage of water that is fresh and clean right: 1%.Most water books use 2.5% which I believe is wrong.

I grew increasingly frustrated as I went through the book, but was rewarded with some quotes at the end that I reproduce here.The author is clear on how the four paths societies take when confronted with scarcity range from complacency to efficiency to waste more water without regard to the future. I respect what I take to be the core point: that every society struggles with scarcity of one sort or another, and how they innovate around that scarcity will define them into the future.The author avoids taking a position, or deeply examining, the range of options from public to private, or hybrids therein--see the other books for that.

QUOTE (466): "Look, if one of those [New York water] tunnels goes, this city will be completely shut down," said James Ryan, a veteran tunnel worker."In some placed there won't be water for anything...It would make September 11 look like nothing."

QUOTE (469):Alone, five gian global food and beverage corporations--Nestle, Danone, Unilever, Anheuser-Busch, and Coca Cola--consume enough water to meet the daily domestic needs of every person on the planet.

QUOTE (486): Countries with scarcity are likely to veer toward famine; countries already in water famine face greater human catastrophes and political upheavals.Overtaxed water ecosystems are likely to grow more and more depleted and less and less capable of sustaining their societies.Asthe gulf between those with sufficient water [Iceland, Quebec, and Scotland] and those without deepens as a source of grievance, inequity and conflict, the politics of scarcity in mankind's most indispensable resource is becoming an increasingly [the] pivotal fulcrum in shaping the history and environmental destiny of the twenty-first century.

QUOTE (495): With extreme water scarcity showing through as a root cause of many of the world's famines, genocides, diseases, and failing states, I am inclined to believe that if there can be a meaningful human right to any material thing, surely it starts with access to minimum clean freshwater.At the end of the day, how each member of the world community ultimately act in response to the global freshmater crisis is not just a matter of economic and political history, but a judgment on our own humanity--and the ultimate fate of human civilization.

I have two more books, both on water governance, law, and politics, that will complete this "set" of reading, it will be easiest to find them all together at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog.I will end by pointing to Alvin and Heidi Toffler's Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century as well as their more recent Revolutionary Wealth.This book strives to make water central, but water is NOT central--thinking holistically, rooted in reality, deeply ethical, is what is central.No government and no corporation and no international or non-governmental organization gets this yet although the Nordics and the Netherlands see it on the horizon--most are still in industrial era "marketshare" mode where information is something to be hoarded not shared.That is why I believe that public intelligence in the public interest--connecting all humans with all information in all languages all the time--is the core challenge.Water, while critical, is one of twelve policies that must be harmonized in order to eradicate the ten high-level threats to humanity.We are the enemy.We have to deal with We first.

History of Civilization in Terms of Water
An excellent review of how our current way of living came to us through history, floating on the waters of the world.

Good overview
This book provides an enjoyable and accessible overview of the role of water resources in the development of the major civilizations around the world.As a single volume it is necessarily a broad-brush treatment of the subject. The stories of the early Nile River and Tigris-Euphrates civiliations are familiar but enlarged upon somewhat. His discussions of the Indian subcontinent, China, and Europe were less familiar but made more understandable in the context of the near early near-eastern civilazations. Some of Solomon's theories about the shape of governmental systems being derived from the nature of the water resources are instructive and valuable but not rigorously presented.In particular, I thought the focus on the West mastering open-ocean sailing as a critical water-related factor in the fate of civilizations, while interesting, was a stretch for this book.I read the book expecting it to focus on early civilisations, but half of the book chronicles early industrialization and modern times. I was initially disappointed with this, but came away glad that Solomon had brought the issues current, and given a valuable background to current water resoure issues in the U.S. around the world. His discussion on the era of mega-dam construction in the 20th century was very interesting. I found this book a good complement to Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, & Steel", sort of picking up where Diamond left off, albeit through the lens of water resources. ... Read more

Product Description
Clean water is essential to human survival, yet it is increasingly scarce. Despite pressures on this crucial resource, people often have little or no opportunity to participate in watershed decisions that affect them, particularly when they live along international watercourses. The success of efforts to manage water effectively, efficiently, and equitably will depend, in large part, on providing the public with a voice in watershed management decisions that affect them. This volume examines experiences in public participation in the management of many watercourses around the world, drawing lessons learned and highlighting areas for further development. ... Read more

Product Description
Water resource management throughout the world is a very complicated issue, involving various aspects and dimensions and a well-coordinated set of policies. A well-designed water policy is a multi-faceted concerted intervention, which could be specific to just one set of political and physical socio-economic conditions. A framework to analyze the interaction between policy design and implementation can
assist in improving both of these in various physical, economic, and political situations.

This book focuses on the interaction between policy making and strategic behavior of policy-makers, water users, and other stakeholders, and how policy analysis and other analytical tools from the field of game theory and negotiation can improve policy design. The book presents analysis by high-level policy makers and policy analysts from various countries, to share experience regarding specific policy issues that are relevant to almost any country in the world but may have been addressed differently in each country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Middle Schools strong in resource studies will find these excellent starting points for reports
Two new additions to the 'Diminishing Resources' series each offer a little over 100 pages of facts, from analysis of problems affecting each resource to warning signs of past and present, potential outcomes, and factors influencing environmental change. Middle Schools strong in resource studies will find these excellent starting points for reports. James G. Workman's WATER considers water demands and climate change, and Allen Stenstrup's FORESTS surveys world forests and influences on their use.
... Read more

Product Description
The volume argues that judicious management of water resources is a critical policy issue for India as it is not scarcity but mismanagement and misuse of water resources that is the problem. The volume argues that Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is a step in the right direction but the approach is yet to be fully integrated in the Indian context. ... Read more

Product Description

Practical Guidelines for Managing Information Technology in Water and Wastewater Utilities

This Water Environment Federation resource presents an overview of the information technology (IT) systems, practices, and applications most relevant to utilities. Information Technology in Water and Wastewater Utilities covers strategic planning, IT program development, project management, infrastructure, security, organizational issues, success factors, and challenges. Six real-world case studies highlight specific technical details and illustrate the concepts presented in this authoritative guide.

Information Technology in Waste and Wastewater Utilities covers:

• Business drivers and IT systems and applications
• IT planning
• Developing an IT program for a municipal agency
• IT capital project management
• IT systems--processes and practices
• IT security
• Organizational aspects of IT
• Critical success factors and key future challenges for IT in water and wastewater utility projects

Product Description
The complexity of current water resource management poses many challenges. Water managers need to solve a range of interrelated water dilemmas, such as balancing water quantity and quality, flooding, drought, maintaining biodiversity and ecological functions and services, complicated by the growing uncertainties of global climate change.

This book, based on extensive collaborative research from the NeWater (New Approaches to Adaptive Water Management Under Uncertainty) project, explains the benefits, outcomes and lessons learned from adaptive water management (AWM). In essence, AWM is a way of responding to uncertainty by designing policy measures which are provisional and incremental, subject to subsequent modification in response to environmental change and other variables.

The book consists of 13 chapters, of which the first and last summarize the main points made in favor of adaptive management. The first part provides an overview of the major challenges faced as a result of pressures such as climate change and demographic development. From this background, the concepts of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and AWM are explained, along with their theoretical origins and practical implementation. The second part describes water management tools and instruments and their use in AWM.

The last and largest part of the book consists of a description of cases and lessons learned in seven river basins from across Europe, West Asia and Africa. These illustrate the key challenges of adaptive water management, especially when rivers cross national boundaries, creating additional problems of governance. ... Read more