Thursday, April 20, 2006

New Books - When the rivers run dry / Springs of life

Fred Pearce
When the rivers run dry: what happens when our water runs out?
Eden Project, 2006, 333.91 PEA

Ganesh Pangare & Vasudha Pangare
Springs of life: India's water resources
Academic Foundation, 2005, 363.61 PAN












When the rivers run dry and Spring of life are books examining different aspects of water usage and shortages, and are both related to the RSA project Engaging Enterprise in Water and Environmental Sanitation Development.

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. Although our water crisis is relatively tranquil, it is repeated - often in vastly more dangerous form - across the world, making the current situation a world-wide water crisis. Fred Pearce's 15-year research into water issues has taken him all over the world, and in that time his vivid reporting has revealed the personal stories behind failing rivers, barren fields, decertification, floods, and water wars. When the rivers run dry takes a global perspective, giving a clear and terrifying picture of the consequences, if no remedial action is taken. However it is also a brilliantly challenging explanation of the steps we must take to ensure the 'blue revolution' the entire world desperately needs. Fred Pearce outlines the argument of his book with an article in The Guardian newspaper from March 2006.

Written by leading researchers in water related issues, Springs of life presents an indepth and valuable account of the availability and uses of water in India. As well as exploring and evaluating common sense solutions to local water problems that many Indian communities have adopted, it also documents the natural beauty of the water bodies, and the ways in which communities live and interact with water, particularly in hostile ecosystems.

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