Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource - Softcover

De Villiers examines the checkered history of humankind's management of water--which, he hastens to remind us, is not a renewable resource in many parts of the world. One of them is the Nile River region, burdened by overpopulation. Another is the Sahara, where Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi is pressing an ambitious, and potentially environmentally disastrous, campaign to mine deep underground aquifers to make the desert green. Another is northern China, where the damaging effects of irrigation have destroyed once-mighty rivers, and the Aral Sea of Central Asia, which was killed within a human lifetime. And still another is the American Southwest, where crops more fitting to a jungle than a dry land are nursed. De Villiers travels to all these places, reporting on what he sees and delivering news that is rarely good.

De Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and other works that call our attention to a globally abused--and vital--resource. --Gregory McNamee

A brilliant and disturbing look at the most crucial ecological issue of the new century – now thoroughly revised and updated

Water – where it is, who owns it, how much we'll need, and how to make sure we'll have it – is quickly emerging as one of the most important ecological issues of the new century.

First published in 1999, Water, Marq de Villiers's brilliant look at the condition of water resources around the world, won a Governor General's Award and earned glowing praise from such respected figures as Maurice Strong, now of the Earth Council ("timely, authoritative, and eminently readable").

In compelling and lucid prose, de Villiers describes the grim situations in arid regions – in the southwestern United States, southern Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Israel, India, and Asia – and makes it clear just how serious the ramifications can be. He outlines how water is being manipulated by technology, used as a political bargaining chip, or imperilled by ignorance – and what this could mean to us in the future, how it could shape the way we live.

We must act now, says de Villiers. And although our choices are conservation, technological invention, or violence, he sees hope in the fact that we still have choices.

This new edition – completely updated – of what has become a standard book on a crucial subject makes for vitally important reading.