An instructor of "Literature and the Environment" at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., had included one of Fred Pearce's writings about "virtual water." That was intriguing at the time (2006), but I've only recently read When the Rivers Run Dry and find it to be still relevant, if not moreso. Pearce has done a lot of research and writes engagingly. I walk away from the book having a sense of hope -- so long as we humans have the will to change, to put aside our short-term interests in favor of long-range sight. A big "so long as," I suppose, but still a possibility. Most disturbing are all of the dams, the water losses incurred through evaporation at reservoirs, and the push to grow certain crops where maybe we should not try to grow them (mostly in the interest of export). Water demands our respect, given how much it makes up our bodies, our food, Earth itself. In our area, the Chesapeake Bay watershed, we need to be doing even more to eliminate herbicides, whether used on farms or on residential laws or even in areas where people are trying to remove so-called invasive species (hiring a herd of goats may be a sounder choice). These chemicals linger for years, build up in soil and in sediments in waterways and it's a complete gamble as to what effect they will have years hence. We know some from US Geological Survey research about the effects on aquatic life, but those effects never end with the smallest among us, but slowly rise up the food chain or become part of the water we drink (wastewater treatment does not eliminate them) and the air we breathe. At home, we harvest our rainwater -- which should not be against the law anywhere -- and are embarking on the creation of small swales to utilize the overflow for trees. Despite some of this book's grimness, When the Rivers Run Dry provides an good all-around education about how water -- and people, through water policies -- are treated around the world.

read chapters 1, 3, 8, 12, 21, 22, 23, and 24 for my geology course. it was bleak and depressing. sad yeehaw.

Anyone who tells you not to assume the worst case scenario for the planet is either lying or living in a fantasy world. There’s no hope.

There are plenty of doom-and-gloom environmental books out there, and this is a serious one. However, it should be a national required reading assignment - or international for that matter for those literate few. Just resist the urge to slit your wrists and give it all up.

Very good.

Good read but would of liked to see volumes, areas measurements in SI units rather than imperial.

I found this very helpful in clearly showing the various problems with our water supply and why.

Essential reading for ALL of us!
As the title says: WATER will be the defining crisis of the 21st Century. Sadly, the suffering will be worse than Coronavirus.

It is an essential read in the present context of environmental issues, especially for environmental scientists and engineers.

Read the 2018 version*

A frightening look at just HOW MUCH we've screwed up this planet of ours. Each chapter looks at a certain type of water crisis, in several areas. To be honest, after a couple chapters, it becomes a monotonous stream of, "John Lockson at the So-and-So Bureau reported that the [Insert Great River Name] once had a flow of 100 million acre-feet, it is now reduced to a fifth of that." After the initial shock about the water situation, I didn't find it really interesting until the last third of the book, when Pearce begins making connections between water and war, as well as explaining several different efficient water-collecting/conservation devices.

This was a nice survey of the 'state of the planet's waters', written back 2006. Which is just far enough back to be relevant but provides some interesting checks on the many predictions (mainly of doom and gloom) that are made. Not saying much of it is not warranted. Water is of course the most essential material on earth and it is under pressure in myriad ways as well-documented by Fred Pearce, an English journalist/science writer. He did a fair amount of research for this and traveled widely around the planet to chronicle the world's water woes. No corner of the globe really escapes his pen, with interesting sections on India, China, Africa, Asia, Europe and the western hemisphere. From Indian villages dealing with diminishing and polluted groundwater to the gargantuan water projects in China (the Yangtze water transfer being the most astounding), to environmental disasters likes the Aral Sea in the former USSR. One major criticism is the complete lack of footnoting and sources. You can look up some of it and it was interesting to do 'fact-checks' and progress assessments on various assertions. Issues with dams was a major theme--too many, in the wrong places, unsafe, counter-productive, etc. This is not the work of a hydrologist but he does interview quite a few and the book seemed to hit about the correct level of concern. The world may not be about to end (yet) but the issues are not going away. Some photos would have been a nice addition, but this a generally a good, accessible book for anyone wanting to get some insight into our global water woes.