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Unquenchable

America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It

Robert Glennon

Published: 05/11/2009
Publisher: Island Press
432 p. 6 x 9
ISBN: 9781597264365
Hardcover: $27.96

Biographies | Table Of Contents

Robert Glennon captures the irony—and tragedy—of America’s water crisis in a book that is both frightening and wickedly comical. From manufactured snow for tourists in Atlanta to trillions of gallons of water flushed down the toilet each year, Unquenchable reveals the heady extravagances and everyday inefficiencies that are sucking the nation dry.

The looming catastrophe remains hidden as government diverts supplies from one area to another to keep water flowing from the tap. But sooner rather than later, the shell game has to end. And when it does, shortages will threaten not only the environment, but every aspect of American life: we face shuttered power plants and jobless workers, decimated fi sheries and contaminated drinking water.

We can’t engineer our way out of the problem, either with traditional fixes or zany schemes to tow icebergs from Alaska. In fact, new demands for water, particularly the enormous supply needed for ethanol and energy production, will only worsen the crisis. America must make hard choices—and Glennon’s answers are fittingly provocative. He proposes market-based solutions that value water as both a commodity and a fundamental human right.

One truth runs throughout Unquenchable: only when we recognize water’s worth will we begin to conserve it.

Biographies

Robert Glennon is the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy in the Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. He is the author of many articles and books, including the acclaimed Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters.

Introduction
Part I. The Crisis
Chapter 1. Atlanta’s Prayer for Water
Chapter 2. Wealth and the Culture of Water Consumption
Chapter 3. Our Thirst for Energy
Chapter 4. Fouling Our Own Nests
Chapter 5. The Crisis Masked
Part II. Real and Surreal Solutions
Chapter 6. Business as Usual
Chapter 7. Water Alchemists
Chapter 8. The Ancient Mariner’s Lament
Chapter 9. Shall We Drink Pee?
Chapter 10. Creative Conservation
Chapter 11. Water Harvesting
Chapter 12. Moore’s Law
Part III. A New Approach
Chapter 13. The Enigma of the Water Closet
Chapter 14. The Diamond-Water Paradox
Chapter 15. The Steel Deal
Chapter 16. Privatization of Water
Chapter 17. Take the Money and Run
Chapter 18. The Future of Farming
Chapter 19. Environmental Transfers
Chapter 20. The Buffalo’s Lament
Conclusion: A Blueprint for Reform
Epilogue: The Salton Sea
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Sources
Index

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