Environmental journalist Fred Pearce's book, When the Rivers Run Dry could not be better timed -- Robin McKie, The Observer, Feb 26 2006
His vision of a not-too-distant future where wars are fought over water is terrifying, but the book also offers solutions -- Country Living
If ever a book has been written that demands to be read it is this one. -- Tim Smit, The Eden Project
It's time to face up to consequences of our actions. Reading this alarming book is a good place to start. -- Mick Herron, The Geographical Magazine
More evangelist than doomsayer...Pearce illuminates the folly of
trying to control a natural force with concrete and steel. -- The Sunday Times
Pearce manages to convey the immense wreckage human activity is
making of our lifeblood.
-- John McGrath, Grist
Pearce provides a compelling compendium of place-based water
stories that reveal just how ground-shifting the world's water predicament
will be.
-- Sandra L. Postel, Science
Those who...take Pearce's tour through the global water crisis will be treated to an enriching and farsighted work -- Jai Singh, San Francisco Chronicle
Unblinking look at the growing water crisis, both here and abroad. -- Culture (supp. to the Sunday Times)
With a drumbeat of facts...the formerÂ…news editor documents a 'kind of cataclysm' already affecting many of the world's great rivers -- Publishers Weekly
Fred Pearce has travelled the World to provide the most complete portrait yet of the causes of the world water crisis - THE resource crisis for the 21st century. Calling for a 'blue revolution' , he finds new solutions that will surprise most readers.
Synopsis
Do you know how much water you use each day - not just the 5 litres you may drink, or the 150 litres you guzzle to cook, wash, and flush the toilet with. It takes around 500 litres of water to grow the wheat to produce a loaf of bread. A staggering 11,000 litres to feed enough cow to make a quarter-pound hamburger. You could take 25 baths in the water it takes to grow the cotton for just one T-shirt...The South East of Britain has less water per capita than the Sudan or Ethiopia, and while there is less and less rain our demand grows. Slowly, but surely, we're draining our rivers and hillside springs dry. Much more alarming, we import huge volumes of water in our dockside deliveries of wheat, beef, rice...And, while our water crisis is relatively tranquil, it is repeated - often in vastly more dangerous form - across the world. That we face a world-wide crisis is no idle threat. Pearce's 15-year research into water issues has taken him all over the world. His vivid reportage reveals the personal stories behind failing rivers, barren fields, desertification, floods, and water wars.
His book gives a clear and terrifying picture of the consequences, if no remedial action is taken, but also a brilliantly challenging explanation of the steps we must take to ensure the 'blue revolution' the world desperately needs.
From the Inside Flap
Few of us take the trouble to consider how much water we use. We drink no more than 5 litres each in a day and even after washing and flushing toilets we consume only 150 litres; but it can take as much as 5000 litres to grow just one kilo of rice; 11000 litres to feed enough cow to make a quarter-pound burger; and you could fill 25 baths with the water it takes to grow the cotton for a T-shirt. In such ways we consume a hundred times our own weight in water every day. But the world is running out of water. Some of our largest rivers now trickle into sand miles from the ocean, exhausted by human need. Even in the downs of lowland England, rivers and streams are drying up as we pump water from the hills where they once sprung. And it is not just the rivers. The wells are drying up too. Across the world, ancient reserves of underground water are being emptied and most of them will never naturally refill. By 2025 three billion people will face chronic water shortages and the spectre of water wars looms. Water is ‘the new oil’ – except we can live without oil; there are no alternatives to fresh water. Fred Pearce has travelled all over the world preparing the most complete portrait yet of the growing world water crisis. He explores its complex origins, from waste to wrong-headed engineering projects to high-yield crop varieties that saved a generation from famine but are now draining the earth dry. His vivid reportage reveals the personal stories behind failing rivers, barren fields, desertification, floods, water wars, and even the death of cultures. Is there hope? Yes – but only if we revolutionize the way we treat water. Terrifying about the consequences if governments fail to act, yet ultimately forward-thinking and inspiring, this phenomenally important book shows us just how essential it is that each of us take responsibility for the water we use now - before all our rivers run dry.
About the Author
Fred Pearce was born and educated in the UK He studied Geography at Cambridge University and has since reported on environment, science and development issues from 54 countries. He is a regular broadcaster on radio and TV, with interview credits from Today to Richard and Judy to the Open University. Fred lives in London. "Fred Pearce is an artist with a pen, writing beautifully and movingly about an emerging crisis that will galvanize the world's attention." - James Speth, ex head of blue-chip World Resources Institute and the UN Development Programme, and now dean of Yale School of Environmental Studies:
