Book Description

Conflicts between Hispanic farmers and developers made for compelling reading in The Milagro Beanfield War, the famous novel of life in a northern New Mexico village in which tradition triumphs over modernity. But as cities grow and industries expand, are acequias, or community irrigation ditches, a wise and efficient use of water in the arid Southwest? Jos Rivera presents the contemporary case for the value of acequias and the communities they nurture in the river valleys of southern Colorado and New Mexico.

Recognizing that "water is the lifeblood of the community," Rivera delineates an acequia culture based on a reciprocal relationship between irrigation and community. The acequia experience grows out of a conservation ethic and a tradition of sharing that should be recognized and preserved in an age of increasing competition for scarce water resources. ... Read more

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Reviews (1)

Great analysis of serious social problem
This is a wonderfully clear and thoughtful analysis of water politics. It should be read by anyone concerned about how we make decisions about water quality and quantity. The Florida Legislature, which as a group provided a ham handed approach to dealing with the Everglades and Native tribes, should collectively read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

What happened when native peoples and Spanish landowners in eighteenth-century Mexico competed for increasingly scarce water? In an unusual book that studies the interplay between the environment and colonial social institutions, Sonya Lipsett-Rivera examines the exercise of power by elites in colonial Puebla and how it brought ruin on Indian communities by denying them access to the water they needed to survive.

Because control over water was vested in the colonial bureaucracy rather than a local corps of guards, large landowners were able to manipulate the system in order to control irrigation and access for other purposes such as watering livestock. Not content to grow crops for local consumption, by the eighteenth century a creole elite emerged and, seeing an expanding and lucrative market for wheat, sugar (most of which was made clandestinely into cane brandy), corn, and livestock, they increased their production and therefore their irrigation. These owners of large haciendas and sugar plantations changed agriculture and thereby disrupted the fragile ecosystem of a semi-arid environment. Their domination of water resources denied it to smaller users, resulting in the loss of crops and animals on which Indian communities depended.

As a first study in the ecology of water in Latin America, this book delineates the social and environmental consequences of power exercised to create a monopoly over irrigation. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is the definitive history of the development of the ColoradoRiver and the claims made on its waters, from its source in the Wyoming Rockiesto the California and Arizona borders where, so saline it kills plants, itpeters out just short of the Gulf of California. Ever increasing demands on theriver to supply cities in the desert render this new edition all too timely.Philip Fradkin has updated this valuable book with a new preface. ... Read more

Book 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

Book Description

Covering a vast array of scientific fields and recent discoveries, this book tracks a remarkable substance in its liquid, solid, and gaseous states as it cycles through the seas, the atmosphere, land, icecaps and under the earth. Robert Kandel describes what we humans are doing to the water cycle and the climate and explains where we are heading.The book investigates how nuclear reactions in the interiors of stars produce the oxygen needed to form H20. After showing how the atmosphere´s motions apportion moisture, the book follows the course of water over the land, into the soil, and through plants back to the atmosphere. From there, water travels along streams and great rivers back to the seas. The role of irrigation, the quest for clean water for cities, and the problems of pollution and public health are important elements of the story. The author considers climate change and how political and economic decisions that we make today will affect water resources for the next century. Finally, the author considers the geopolitical role of water and the tensions generated by the control of a nation´s water by other countries who "own" the watershed or upstream resources. ... Read more

Book Description

"This is a wonderful book, a wake-up call of startling clarity and insight, with a flood of facts and anecdotes that place the abstract into riveting human perspective. I will never turn on the rap again without thinking about where water comes from and where it goes." (Ken Burns, producer and director of the Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz documentaries.)

The story of water is complex, with roots as deep as civilization itself, but what we hear about it today is simple and stark: the world's supply is in severe crisis. Even when we're not confronted with alarming news of another drought, we're reminded of environmental changes and a growing world population that threaten to turn water into a matter over which wars will be fought. Despite these urgent warnings, how many of us can say we understand the elemental forces that brought us to such a precarious state, or what we might do to get out of it?

Taking us on a world tour of the most hotly contested water climates, and introducing us to some of the most passionate advocates to emerge from them, Diane Raines Ward gives us a compelling account of where we've come from, and where we need to go. Why is the Fertile Crescent, historically one of the most lush places on earth, fast becoming a region of scarcity? What do Dutch watermen, steeped in their centuries-old, folkloric battle to protect their coasts, know about rising seas that we don't?Why are certain environmentalists so eager to dismantle thousands of years' worth of engineered solutions to distributing water? And how is it that the very technology vilified by conservationists may be the only thing that can save us? Through a narrative that's breathtakingly clear and filled with fresh insight, Ward answers these and other paradoxical questions, and gives us a bold perspective on a subject to which our fate is inextricably bound. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Water Wars: A Voice of Reality
Ms. Ward's book left me with a lot to think about. The next true crisis in the world will be "water". One thing that I was thoroughly impressed was the way she not only presented problems, but, probably solutions. The recent North Carolina drought showed that everyone in the near future will begin to experience water problems. Ms. Ward's book reminded me that we need to think more about permanent solutions instead of stop gap measures

An easy read, but has flaws
Ward takes a comprehensive and world-wide view of the problem of managing water, and I learned a considerable amount from her book. She writes with an easy style. (Another reviewer calls it "the best book on water that I've read"; that's true for me, too, but in my case it's faint praise since I've only read this book!) Clearly, water management is becoming more important as the world's population grows, and given the public policy decisions facing most nations, it is a subject that the average citizen will need to learn more about. Unfortunately, the book has a couple of flaws. First, it is shallow technically, even for a popular non-fiction book; Ward could benefit by providing additional depth on both the technology of watershed management and the dominant legal structures behind it. Second, I found the footnotes to be very poorly written; frequently direct quotes appear without footnotes, and on many occasions the information in a footnote is almost a non-sequitur when compared to the footnoted text.

The best book on water I've read
This is a terrific book-passionate, informed, wide-ranging, and filled with lots of quotes and anecdotes. And it's very personal-Ms. Ward isn't writing from an armchair-she's been to all the places she writes about, and it shows. She's got a great sense of drama and eye for detail-you're right there with her in the helicopter when she flies low over a network of rivers. And because she knows the subject so well, Ms. Ward places all the twists and turns in her fascinating story in a broad, historical context. I'll never look at a glass of water in quite the same way again.

Interesting facts, incomplete concepts, poorly organized
Although there were a few technical errors, the book was full of interesting facts about the state of fresh water in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, except for some information about the water issues in India, there was little that was new. The chapters were in themselves fairly interesting but there was no real continuity. There was a lack of of purpose. After the final chapter on the Everglades, the book just quit. There are better books and articles on this subject available. Nice try though.

An invaluable read
Not only is this book a fast-paced, engrossing read, it is a vital one. Water will be the next human battleground and this book provides vast insight into the subject. Ms. Ward's style is a friendly, conversational one. It's a terrific book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Misleading title
This book is titled for DIY but nearly every chapter seems to start with advising us to consult with and/or hire a professional. I got more information on planning and layout from websites of system manufacturers than from this book. There is a reasonably good summary of different types and it might be OK as a guide if you're planning on hiring a professional anyway but this is not a DIY nuts and bolts kind of guide. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Good General Consumer Book
Before you spend money on any "How To" book , you need to ask yourself at what level of knowledge and expertise you're at. This book isn't bad for a novice wanting to put in a basic system. It does go through the myriad examples of sprinkler types and how efficient they are and the suitability for a particular application. But just like most fields, irrigation is evolving quickly as regards new materials, products and standards. Overall, I feel this book gives good solid information for a do - it - yourselfer. The author does a good job explaining the theories involved with building a home irrigation system. You can save a lot of money installing your own system. You can also cause a lot of damage doing it incorrectly. This book can give you a good idea whether you can tackle installing a system or not. Use this book along with careful planning, to know what questions to ask either a sprinkler supply distributor or to hire an irrigation contractor.

A little to basic
Although I am stating that this book is a little to basic, maybe what I was looking for was just more then this book was intended to deliver. I was looking for a book to help calculate how many zones were needed, what type of sprinkler heads, etc. This book had great photographs and basic knowledge. If you are ready to design and install your own system you might want a more detailed book.

Sunset Garden Watering Systems
Sunset's Garden Watering Systems do-it-yourself manual is an excellent guide. I knew little to nothing about micro-irrigation before reading the manual. I needed to learn quickly for a project on drip irrigation. Sunset's logical layout with lots of explanatory pictures helped me understand the fundamentals (and intricacies) of drip irrigation. The terminology used was not difficult to understand for a beginner and they even include a glossary. The index was really useful to for quick reference. I recommend this book for any person who wants to learn about or install irrigation systems. ... Read more

Book Description

A celebration of water and its many roles in the human and natural world. Water, one of the most temperamental and powerful substances on earth, is under extraordinary pressure today. The lyrical and informative writing draws upon literary, historical, and folkloric sources about all aspects of water, from the natural and biologic to the sociological and political implications of water usage and shortage, including current information about dams and privatization battles. Lavishly-illustrated, with 100 full-color photographs, this book is a window on the world of water: oceans, mighty rivers and snow-capped mountains; and everyday scenes of people interacting with water filling buckets, boiling noodles, and jumping streams. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Some good info, but not enough
For the reader who currently knows nothing about water contamination and purification, this is a decent book, since it provides some eye-opening information. However, there are better books out there, depending on what you're looking for.

For specific advice on water contamination and safe water alternatives, including bottled water and home purification, I recommend Colin Ingram's "The Drinking Water Book." It has more information and a better format, including a simple chart that rates the effectiveness of different home purification methods for eliminating different contaminants (something this author didn't include).

If you're looking for something more political, buy "The Sierra Club Guide to Safe Drinking Water." This lists specific steps to improve drinking water on a larger level, including political action and people/agencies to contact. It also includes a list of major U.S. cities and their violations of water purity regulations. Finally, it lists the EPA drinking water standards in an appendix. Of course, it also includes advice on safe water alternatives, but this is not as extensive as the recommendations in The Drinking Water Book (see above).

Very Scary! Excellent Read! A Must for Every Nutritionist
I just got finished reading this book in between classes, and all I can say is WOW! Be aware, and beware of your tap water. If these statistics are correct, then the EPA and the U.S. government are not concerned with protecting your right to clean water, and therefore, you must educate yourself in order to protect against degenerative disease.

[ 1991-1992 EPA records showed that the nations water systems committed over 250,000 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, affecting more than 100 million Americans - and 10% of those exceeded the MCL (Max Contaminant Level) of the EPA. ]

This book is a great start finding out the truth of the matter. Toxins are everywhere! We all need to learn where they exist and remove them for our own and our childrens sake.

Someday, a high ranking official on TV may review this book, or a similar subject and try and spin these numbers a certain way to make it not sound so bad, but don't be fooled. Statistics seldom lie. Only politicians do. Politicians can come from any field, not just government. Politicians come from industry, medicine, lobby, and big business etc. Be a detective, and look for anything that doesn't make sense.

"The Truth is Obvious, Everything Else is Questionable"

Read this book! It contains vital information.
This book is certainly a very factual and "blunt" book about the seriousness of our domestic water quality. With the coming "Y2K" event on the horizon, I believe Lono A'o's comments are even more appropriate and noteworthy. I have given this book a 5 star and I am giving serious thought to making this book a required reading for all the students in my Environmental Studies class at New England College. That's how serious I believe the issue is.

Very thorough about current water filtration methods
If you ever plan on buying a water filter of any kind -- this is the book to read. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is that I wish it would have given more specific information regarding name brand water filtration systems available and where to get testing information etc. ... Read more

Book Description

Water has long been the object of political ambition and conflict. Recent history is full of leaders who tried to harness water to realize national dreams. Yet the people who most need water--farmers, rural villages, impoverished communities--are too often left, paradoxically, with desiccated fields, unfulfilled promises, and refugee status.

It doesn't have to be this way, according to Fred Pearce. A veteran science news correspondent, Pearce has for over fifteen years chronicled the development of large-scale water projects like China's vast Three Gorges dam and India's Sardar Sarovar. But, as he and numerous other authors have pointed out, far from solving our water problems, these industrial scale projects, and others now in the planning, are bringing us to the brink of a global water crisis.

Pearce decided there had to be a better way.

To find it, he traveled the globe in search of alternatives to mega-engineering projects. In Keepers of the Spring, he brings back intriguing stories from people like Yannis Mitsis, an ethnic Greek Cypriot, who is the last in his line to know the ways and whereabouts of a network of underground tunnels that have for centuries delivered to farming communities the water they need to survive on an arid landscape. He recounts the inspiring experiences of small-scale water stewards like Kenyan Jane Ngei, who reclaimed for her people a land abandoned by her government as a wasteland. And he tells of many others who are developing new techniques and rediscovering ancient ones to capture water for themselves.

The solution to our water problems, he finds, may not lie in new technologies but in recovering ancient traditions, using water more efficiently, and better understanding local hydrology. Are these approaches adequate to serve the world's growing populations? The answer remains unclear. But we ignore them at our own peril.