Ebook: Back to the well: rethinking the future of water

"Water is a renewable resource, but what are its limits? Between drawing down our resources of fresh water at ever-increasing rates and continuing to pollute water that should have been cleaned up decades ago, are we entering upon a global crisis? Is water a human right? Who owns water? Who is responsible for keeping it clean and ensuring it gets to the people who need it most? Is privatization of ownership and supply networks an unmitigated evil? Marq de Villiers tackles these questions and more in Back to the Well, the refreshing follow-up to his Governor General's Award winning book, Water (1999). De Villiers's clear-eyed analysis assesses the state of water on Earth today and looks at the ways its use and abuse encompasses intersections between our daily personal water use, agriculture, energy policy, climate change, national security, and global conflicts. Back to the Well examines these issues and the ways they impact each other and how political ideologies and competing priorities often obscure underlying issues or make the best solutions unpalatable to vocal and influential, but ideologically blinkered, actors. De Villiers urges us to cut through the hype to see not a global crisis, but myriad local and regional problems that can be solved in different ways through local actions."--;Introduction : a few assertions -- Part One : Assessment. The dismal arithmatic of water -- The state of our groundwater -- Rivers and lakes in trouble -- Part Two : Issues. Who owns water? -- Privatization and its disontents -- Are dams really that bad? -- What we don't know about fracking -- Bulk water transfers -- Part Three : Complications. Minimizing farming's water needs -- Climate change -- More people, using ever more water -- Part Four : Flashpoints. Scarcity, yes; conflicts, maybe -- Part Five : Solutions. Reframing the debate -- The way of the engineer -- Soft-path solutions -- Conclusion : Crossover solutions.