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When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century

fred pearce

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Throughout history, rivers have been our foremost source of fresh water both for agriculture and for individual consumption, but now economists say that by 2025 water scarcity will cut global food production by more than the current U.S. grain harvest. In this groundbreaking book, veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce focuses on the dire state of the world's rivers to provide our most complete portrait yet of the growing world water crisis and its ramifications for us all.

Pearce traveled to more than thirty countries while researching When the Rivers Run Dry, examining the current state of crucial water sources like the Indus River in Pakistan, the Colorado River in the United States, and the Yellow and Yangzte rivers in China. Pearce deftly weaves together the complicated scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the water crisis, showing us its complex origins-from waste to wrong-headed engineering projects to high-yield crop varieties that have saved developing countries from starvation but are now emptying their water reserves. He reveals the most daunting water issues we face today, among them the threat of flooding in China's Yellow River, where rising silt levels will prevent dykes from containing floodwaters; the impoverishment of Pakistan's Sindh, a once-fertile farming valley now destroyed by the 14 million tons of salt that the much-depleted Indus deposits annually on the land but cannot remove; the disappearing Colorado River, whose reservoirs were once the lifeblood of seven states but which could dry up as soon as 2007; and the poisoned springs of Palestine and the Jordan River, where Israeli control of the water supply has only fed conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The situation is dire, but not without remedy. Pearce argues that the solution to the growing worldwide water shortage is not more and bigger dams but greater efficiency and a new water ethic based on managing the water cycle for maximum social benefit rather than narrow self-interest.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1,2006
Places
pakistan, el paso texas, juarez, texas, mexico, ojinaga, kushkal gujarat, tirupur, plachimara keraia, sahara desert, hirapur, tilaipani madhya pradesh, madhya pradesh, tamil nadu, bangladesh, dipordi, oklahoma, kansas, california, saudi arabia, gaza, isle of ely, ely, kent england, sudan, sudd, paraguay, botswana, okavango delta, namibia, angola, lake chad, nigeria, sahel, afghanistan, helmand province, iran, cambodia, mekong river, china, yellow river, tibet, shandong province, shanxi province, ninxia province, gansu province, inner mongolia, taiyuan shanxi province, hohhot inner mongolia, loess plateau, ghana, sri lanka, nagaragawa, lake mead, yangtze river, amazon river, mozambique, tegucigalpa, honduras, burkina faso, hidalgo state, golan heights, west bank, israel, palestine, kashmir, indus river, sumeria, angkor, guatemala, arizona, phoenix arizona, lake powell utah, yuma arizona, aral sea, kazakhstan, uzbekistan, turkmenistan, australia, new south wales, south downs england, sussex england, canada, idaho, snowy mountains, karnataka state, morocco, devon england, north dakota, tampa bay florida, santa cruz california, negev desert, machakos district, shallalah saghirah, cyprus, baluchistan state, crimea, feodosia, libya, lynmouth devon england, 

This edition

Format
336 pages, Hardcover
Published
March 9, 2006 by Beacon Press
ISBN
9780807085721
ASIN
0807085723
Language
English
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About the author

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fred pearce

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Fred Pearce is an English author and journalist based in London. He has been described as one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and climate change, and frequently takes heretic and counter-intuitive views - "a sceptic in the best sense", he says.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
39(39%)
4 stars
26(26%)
3 stars
35(35%)
2 stars
0(0%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Kusunoki
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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3 stars leaning towards 2.

Feels more like a collection of journalistic pieces than a coherent book. I like the clear-cut structure (very essay-argument), but that falls a little flat as it feels less like a thesis defence than a rambling exploration. Not enough analysis and big picture as it jumps from location to location sketching the bare basics of each case. And was honestly so annoyed with the big deal that the author makes about him carrying water with the Indian women, trying to be all Bill Bryson all of a sudden - but that's my own pet peeve I guess.
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Anime-Addicte94
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A solid book that examines our habits of trying get to harness the hydrological cycle with massive dams and other waterworks. Fred Pearce finds that in most cases, these projects are doomed to fail because of the way water moves and what it carries.

A good read for anyone interested in dams and their effects. I think folks in British Columbia where the fight over the Site C dam is underway would find a lot of useful commentary in this book.

It ends by focusing on local solutions to managing water, not regional or national. He glossed over how the works in cross-border watersheds.
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deletemal
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is a stunning book: very well researched, very readable, and very comprehensive.
Unless we find new ways of dealing with this situation, there could be many more floods and
periods of drought in our future. The Southeast US is one of the threatened areas: this is not only a global issue, but also a local one. I give this book my highest recommendation.

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mizzg
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I read this aloud to my middle son (age 14 years) as part of his geography curriculum for school. Published in 2018 it gave us great insight into the issues surrounding all things water supply around the world. We thoroughly enjoyed the book and it was my son who gave it the five star rating (though I agree wholeheartedly). I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the world's water situation.
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thehornedrat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book gives some dire warnings about mismanagement of our world's rivers - the damming of rivers and pumping of aquifers causes more destruction by floods and drought (which is not what the dam-builders of the world would tell you). Not an uplifting book, but a very good book for those who agree that water is a major resource to be fought over in the 21st century.
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Yakimy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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An interesting science read that takes you around the world on a tour of the world's rivers. He weaves together the scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the water crisis.
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