Cơn khát khủng khiếp - Cuộc sống bí mật và tương lai đầy sóng gió của nước

by Charles Fishman, Nguyễn Nguyên Hy (Translator)

Nước trên Trái Đất từ đâu đến?

Có phải “nước” từng có trên Trái Đất này cũng là thứ nước mà chúng ta đang có ở đây, mãi mãi, đúng theo nghĩa đen, hay vẫn đang được tạo ra thêm bằng cách nào đó trong vũ trụ? Lẽ nào mọi thứ nước ta sử dụng đều từng là “nước sinh học” trong cơ thể sinh vật nào đó, và chúng ta đang phải sử dụng thứ gọi là nước đã “cũ” hàng tỉ năm? Vì sao có thể nói bản thân nước không trở nên khan hiếm hơn, nó chỉ đơn giản trốn khỏi chỗ mà người ta quen tìm - nơi con người của mọi nền văn minh coi chuyện có sẵn nước là điều hiển nhiên - để xuất hiện ở một chỗ nào đó khác?

Nước ở vòi trong bếp, nước đóng chai nhập khẩu, nước tưới tiêu cho cây cối, các công trình thủy cho vận hành nền công nghiệp... cho đến nước siêu tinh khiết trong công nghiệp vi mạch điện tử, những cột nước cao 200 m ở đài phun cao nhất thế giới tại Dubai… được làm ra như thế nào? Phần đông chúng ta không biết. Nhưng tất cả đều sẽ được giải đáp trong cuốn Cơn khát khủng khiếp rất kì thú này của Charles Fishman, người đã ba lần giành Giải thưởng Gerald Loeb, giải thưởng danh giá nhất trong lĩnh vực báo chí kinh doanh, tài chính. Cuốn sách này của ông được sử dụng làm giáo trình đào tạo về thủy lợi trong nhiều trường đại học danh tiếng.

CƠN KHÁT KHỦNG KHIẾP chứng minh rằng chúng ta có mối liên hệ phức tạp, mâu thuẫn và mơ hồ với nước. Chúng ta thường tưởng mình hiểu biết về nước - những kiến thức có lẽ từng được dạy và học từ thời phổ thông hóa ra lại chỉ là những câu chuyện đầy khiếm khuyết. Ngày nay khi bước vào một kỉ nguyên mà sự khan hiếm nước phổ biến hơn, chúng ta mới nhận ra rằng mình hiểu quá sơ sài về nước. Hiểu biết về tính không bị hủy hoại của nước, tính tái sử dụng được của nó đang chứng tỏ là những tri thức sống còn của nhân loại.

Vì nước thường làm con người khổ sở với những thảm họa thiên nhiên - bão tố, lụt lội, băng tan… và cả hạn hán. Đó còn là những sự kiện có gốc gác văn hóa sâu Bao nền văn minh nhân loại đã sụp đổ do những vấn nạn nước.

“Người ta từng nói nền văn minh hiện đại của chúng ta đã có một trăm năm “kỉ nguyên vàng” về nước, với cả ba thứ mà chúng ta vẫn coi là đương nhiê thừa thãi, an toàn, và rẻ mạt. Vâng, nhưng khoa học và kinh tế học về nước gần đây đã chứng minh rằng cả ba phẩm chất ấy của “nước sống còn” sẽ không hiện diện cùng nhau nữa trong các thập kỉ sắp tới. Chúng ta có thể có nước thừa và rẻ, nhưng sẽ là “nước quay vòng”, dùng cho những việc như tưới cây, rửa xe, và có thể để uống; chúng ta chắc chắn phải uống nước an toàn, và nó có thể dư dật, nhưng sẽ không còn rẻ. Thời hoàng kim của nước sắp kết thúc. Chúng ta đang ở ngưỡng cửa của cuộc cách mạng nước hiện đại lần thứ hai, và sẽ làm thay đổi thái độ của chúng ta ít ra cũng mạnh mẽ như một trăm năm trước. Chúng ta có thành tựu vĩ đại vượt xa những thế hệ tiền bối là vì chúng ta có thể hiểu nước và có thể sử dụng nó một cách sáng suốt. Mọi thứ về nước là về sự đổi thay triệt để, tất nhiên, ngoại trừ bản thân nước”.

“Chúng ta đang ở khởi điểm của một thời đại mới về nước, một thời đại mà chúng ta cần sử dụng nước thông minh hơn, khởi điểm của một kỉ nguyên giành những quyền bình đẳng nước lớn hơn nhiều - một kỉ nguyên mà không một ai chết chỉ vì họ không thể có được nước do bị tước đoạt. Loài người đang phải đối mặt với nhiều vấn nạn về nước mà những tổ chức quốc tế trực thuộc Liên hợp quốc đã đề cập đến như tuyên bố gần đây về “Cuộc khủng hoảng nước toàn cầu”.

Cho nên, theo Charles Fishman, cuốn sách này là một nỗ lực “giải thoát nước khỏi bị xem nhẹ hơn là khỏi sự thiếu hiểu biết”. Cuốn sách này lí giải chủ yếu các vấn đề về mối quan hệ con người với nước, hơn là về bản thân nước. Chúng ta đòi hỏi một lối đi mới cho suy nghĩ về nước, một khởi điểm mới cho suy nghĩ về nước. Hầu hết chúng ta chưa từng suy nghĩ nhiều về nó. Chúng ta cần một khuôn khổ xã hội học để suy nghĩ về định mệnh của nước, vì số phận của nước là số phận của chúng ta. “Với một hệ thống nước bền vững, khi nhìn lại phía sau, bạn không hối tiếc quá khứ, và khi nhìn về phía trước thì bạn không lo sợ tương lai”.

“Ở bên cạnh dòng nước đẹp đẽ, tâm trạng khó mà buồn được. Những gì làm bạn bận lòng đều sẽ dịu đi khi bạn ở cùng với nước. Có dòng suối lung linh lanh lợi ở đó khiến bạn mỉm cười, cảm thấy dễ chịu hơn, bất kể đang vui hay đang buồn. Ở trong nước hầu như luôn luôn sảng khoái - bất kể là đang tắm, hay ở bể bơi, hay lướt sóng trên biển - cứ ở gần nước là sảng khoái”.

“Khi bạn nghĩ về những tính cách hấp dẫn đến thế của nước - mạnh mẽ, vui tươi, chan hòa, phong phú biểu cảm, rất điệu nghệ, cũng như rất hữu dụng hằng ngày - thì ngạc nhiên sao, có nhiều đến thế các tính cách của nước hệt như hình phản chiếu các tính cách người. Theo nghĩa tốt đẹp nhất, tâm hồn của nước và tâm hồn của chúng ta là đồng điệu”.

“Khi bạn gặp mọi người, dù thành thị hay nông thôn, đang giải quyết vấn nạn nước, bạn không giúp gì được họ, nhưng bạn sẽ rất ấn tượng về nghị lực, sức sáng tạo, tính hiếu kì, và quyết tâm của họ. Cộng đồng bị khan hiếm nướ...

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Nature, Audiobook, Politics, History

510 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2010

About the author

As a reporter, Charles Fishman has tried to get inside organizations, both familiar and secret, and explain how they work.
In the course of reporting about water to write The Big Thirst, Fishman has stood at the bottom of a half-million-gallon sewage tank, sampled water directly from the springs in San Pellegrino, Italy, and Poland Spring, Maine, and carried water on his head for 3 km with a group of Indian villagers.
Fishman’s previous book, the New York Times bestseller The Wal-Mart Effect, was the first to crack open Wal-Mart’s wall of secrecy, and has become the standard for understanding Wal-Mart’s impact on our economy and on how we live. The Economist named it a “book of the year.”
Fishman is a former metro and national reporter for the Washington Post, and was a reporter and editor at the Orlando Sentinel and the News & Observer in Raleigh, NC. Since 1996, he has worked for the innovative business magazine Fast Company. Fishman has won numerous awards, including three times receiving UCLA’s Gerald Loeb Award, the most prestigious award in business journalism.
Fishman grew up in Miami, Florida, and went to Harvard. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife, also a journalist, their two children, their two Labradors, and their two parakeets. He likes his water from the refrigerator spigot, with ice, or splashing across the bow of a Sunfish.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books about environmental and economic issues are always kind of depressing, because it's really easy to show examples of how very badly we are screwing ourselves over on an epic scale. Like most authors of such books, Charles Fishman shows us how very, very bad it's getting and then tries to end on an optimistic note: "Hey, we have the technology and the science, and if we just behave like rational adults who know we're all in this together, we can solve this problem!"

Uh huh, how often does that happen?

Some interesting points to ponder:

1. The Earth will never "run out" of water. The Earth has exactly the same amount of water today that it did a billion years ago and will have in a billion years. It doesn't go away, it doesn't get destroyed, it just gets recycled.

2. Every drop of water you drink was once dinosaur piss. Probably millions of times over.

3. It's been shown repeatedly that people given access to relatively unlimited, cheap water use less water than people whose water supply is sporadic and uncertain, because people who can't count on their water supply tend to horde water, which leads to more wastage.

4. There are potentially oceans-full of "deep water" locked in the Earth's crust, miles down. Unfortunately, no technology currently known to us would make it possible to access it.

There are a lot of other interesting not-so-random facts in this book. But The Big Thirst is about water, and water management, and the economics of water. Basically, we have too many people and not enough water. Except that's not precisely true — we have enough water. We just don't distribute it or manage it wisely. Fishman talks about the extraordinary growth of water technology in the 20th century - how something we now take for granted (in the U.S.), that when you turn on the tap, safe, unlimited, practically free drinking water will come out, is a tectonic shift in culture. People used to have to spend hours every day just to haul enough water to live on. About half the world still does (and this burden mostly falls on women, with many long-term secondary consequences).

Fishman examines three main "case studies" — Las Vegas, Australia, and India. Las Vegas, of course, is a city built in the middle of a desert where people come and pay hundreds of dollars a night to sleep in hotel rooms overlooking enormous water fountains. Vegas's water supply from Lake Mead has been getting sparser and sparser. In response, they have made a number of very intelligent water choices and imposed restrictions that would seem insane in much of the U.S., yet Vegas residents have shown it's perfectly possible to live comfortably under a water-conservation regime. And yet, they still irrigate luxury golf courses in a desert. And yet, they still use (and waste) less water than farmers.

Australia is also suffering from years and years of drought, which does not look to be ending any time soon unless you believe the global warming denialists. One of Australia's major crops is rice. Yes, Australians raise rice - a very water-intensive crop - in the desert. Seems like madness, but it made perfect sense when rain was plentiful and rivers were flowing. Now there are rivers that have literally dried up, and if you do believe in climate change, then they are probably not coming back in our lifetimes. There is a certain futility in the attitude of the rice farmers whose "solution" is basically to hope the rains come again.

There's also an interesting story about a town that could have solved its water shortage problems easily by using waste-water — very clean and efficient sewage treatment plants — except the residents went nuts at the idea of drinking "sewer water" (even though, see above, every drop of water you drink has been piss many, many times for millions of years). More and more cities are in fact now using waste-water and desalinization to provide much of their water. (Desalinization, unfortunately, is not a magical process that turns seawater into drinking water with merely an investment in a plant. It has a massive energy cost — in other words, it's likely to increase global warming — and all that salt you extract has to go somewhere.)

Then there is India. Where even rich people tend to have erratic public water and supply themselves through inefficient, wasteful, technically illegal jury-rigged supply lines filled by private water trucks. Where millions of girls basically can't go to school because they are too busy fetching water for their families. (And because they have no toilets at school that any human being would want to use.) India also has massive water problems, but ironically, they are worse now than they were in the 70s, because what was once a fairly workable public water system has been allowed to fall apart.

So, all these problems, which are in fact solvable, but they are solvable through a combination of technological, economic, and social means which will require people to act like responsible adults on a global scale. Although Fishman makes the point several times that even if the residents of California suddenly implemented heroic water-saving measures, it wouldn't do a thing for the water needs of people in India or Australia.

We are really foolish about water, and water is going to become a more pressing problem than oil in the next fifty years in some parts of the world.

An interesting if somewhat gloomy book (unless you're a really optimistic futurist). I thought Fishman belabored some points a bit, and was a little too trusting in the magic of "the market" to solve our water problems if applied correctly, but the basic point that people don't value something they get for nothing has been born out.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb book and one that should be required reading for every human being. Instead of reading some of the drivel (classics) in high school, kids should read about the single most important element in life, water. There is something enigmatic about our attitude about water. Our attitude about water is something akin to the old song line, "you only really appreciate something when you lose it". This book is not a polemic or screaming about yet another crisis. Although water is becoming a crisis, his point is educational. He talks about every aspect of water. I especially like the parts in which he described the chemistry and physical uniqueness of water. One fact about water that absolutely blew me away: Every molecule of water that is on the Earth has been here since its formation. We neither add nor subtract water. It just gets moved around. We are so spoiled regarding water in the US especially in the part in which I live. He points out the confusion in our minds about water. The author compares our 24/7 water accessibility with the supply in India. In most Indian communities, even the wealthy ones, water is only available one or two hours a day. In some parts of India, an entire day is consumed (mainly by school aged girls) walking to a distant water supply and carrying it back on their heads. For us, water is virtually free and we waste it with impunity. People complain about a dollar a month increase in the cost of water supply while they remain silent about a 10% cable TV charge. Is it really necessary to flush our solid waste with purified, chemically treated potable water? Suffice it to say that after reading this book, my head was straightened out and I now turn off the water when brushing my teeth. I liked this book so much, I read it twice. It was better the second time.

[Todd Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first section of The Big Thirst contains more facts per square inch than any book I’ve read in a long time … and they are all about water. How much, how little, where it comes from, what’s in it, where it’s located, who has it, who doesn’t, why it’s important, what it does, as well as it’s physical, and chemical properties and its role in the universe. There are lists of facts, metaphors, analogies and comparisons … and every one of them is interesting.

Unfortunately, this burst from the starting gate cannot be sustained, and Fishman doubles over, hands on knees, wheezing and coughing from his fit of exertion … now begins to ramble.

In the second section, Fishman gushes (not unlike a glistening fountain) over how Las Vegas has become a paragon of water stewardship. As evidence he points to the fact that conservation measures have reduced overall water consumption by the city since the 1980's while the city's population has grown significantly. This is indeed a great accomplishment and one that deserves accolades. Here's the problem though ... it's a city in the desert ... Vegas is not an area where people are living sustainably or in harmony with the local environment. It is, in fact, just the opposite. While that's bad enough, per capita water use of a Vegas resident is currently about 255 gallons per day. Compare that with 99 gallons per person per day for the average US resident and 51 gallons per person per day for someone living in Maine. Not to mention that the capita residential water use in the United States is more than four times as high as in England and five times as high as in Germany. If Greenpeace mated with the Sierra Club I suspect their offspring would look nothing like Las Vegas.

Fishman then goes on to describe a random series of water projects, including:
- a reverse osmosis plant at IBM
- a wool washing facility in Australia
- reconstruction of a water treatment plant in Galveston Texas after Hurricane Ike in 2008
- the Australian drought
In a few of the above examples Fishman goes into endless, mind numbing detail that seemingly serves no purpose or supports a broader point. He’s like a child who picks up a shiny rock, then another, and another … then every rock in the vicinity, unable to distinguish between those worth saving and those that should be discarded.

So what is the broader point being made? That we should think about water and not take it for granted … even those details that are mundane, boring, irrelevant, or trivial. We should think about those too.

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will the irrigated agricultural land be rare first or will the entire water cycle collapse sooner?

Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.

What a delicate and fragile system the water cycle of the planet is and how long it has been controlling itself. The balance between an ice desert and a steam sauna, guaranteed by the biological regulation of greenhouse gases, is on more fragile feet, than what one would expect. Because with the change of the fauna, the water balance and with it climate also a shift to one of the extremes comes along.
In the current case towards the Scandinavian national sport. Also, once initiated processes have the habit of becoming independent and no longer controllable or reversible. Moreover, in a scenario that is only attractive to friends of dystopias, it leads to unavoidable heating of the blue planet. However, even before that, the problem of more and more people will point to conflicts with ever-smaller production capacities for food. The water itself would be, as more than enough, no problem. Apart from the hygiene and fair distribution.
The crux lies more in the limited, irrigated agricultural areas, which are not sufficient for the nutrition of all. So especially the people in the areas where both food and water shortage prevail, are forced to dig themselves into ever deeper groundwater wells for a livelihood. The problem is exacerbated by over-fertilization, dead land, by erosion to bare rocky soil and general environmental destruction. As a result, flood and drought disasters will arise that may overshadow everything that has previously happened.
Positively, ideas such as virtual water, cooperation and interest groups between the affected states and profane development aid can contribute to the compensation. Only a half after peak oil the West will boost its already controversial biofuel production immensely. Also, so both less agricultural commodities for sale will be offered as well as that an increased, own water need will be a priority. In this respect, it is the logical next step that the food and agrarian multinationals have for some time been buying the freshwater sources in a forward-looking manner. Besides the surrounding land.
As with so many resources, a multiple of the current world population could be supplied, but it shamefully harbors equity in distribution. In the case of water, it is fatal in many ways, in contrast to agricultural commodities or mineral resources.
Not only that food security and thus the maintenance of peace are directly related to the blue gold. Its pollution and scarcity are also directly related to poverty and the desperate acts necessary for survival. In order not to die of starvation, people are forced to destroy their future. By overburdening essential, formerly natural zones and source areas for the water balance.
One can only hope that the destroyed and still to be destroyed rainforests and forest areas in Latin America, Africa, and Asia will be compensated by the northern coniferous belt to keep the world's climate in balance. Especially when the vegetation limit of the Arctic is getting closer as the temperature rises. So thereby contributes to the growth of a new, climate-regulating forest landscape on thawed, former Permafrost soils.
As a black painter, one could conjure up pretty much any doomsday scenario. Not to mention the never-to-be-reproduced biodiversity in the rainforests. This is made more accessible by the fact that even the actors on the world stage have no further-reaching hypotheses about the consequences of their actions. Not even the approximate rise in temperature in the 21st century is what one wants to commit oneself to.
Besides, one does not have the slightest idea anyway. What is even less relevant are the consequences of the destruction of a water system that has been functioning independently for many millions of years. From the haphazard and arbitrary of human insanity, components can be changed, removed or modified.
If in the long run most natural forests are replaced by monocultures for food production, consequences of unimaginable proportions could arise. No more bank vegetation controls floods around these industrial farms. Deltas, which can catch the flood waters at high tide, disappear. Deserts spread unhindered without biomass that provides vapor for precipitation. Moreover, that tragically, mostly in developing and emerging countries. They will be forced to lead wars not to be parched.

Werden zuerst die zu bewässernden Agrarflächen rar oder kollabiert eher der gesamte Wasserkreislauf?

Welch diffiziles und zugleich fragiles System der Wasserkreislauf des Planeten doch darstellt und seit wie langer Zeit er sich von selbst steuert. Dabei ist die durch die biologische Regulation der Treibhausgase gewährleistete Balance zwischen einer Eiswüste und einer Dampfsauna auf fragileren Füßen als man ahnen möchte.
Denn mit der Veränderung der Fauna, des Wasserhaushalts und damit auch Klimas geht eine Verschiebung zu einem der Extrempunkte einher. Im aktuellen Fall hin zum skandinavischen Nationalsport. Und so einmal in Gang gebrachte Prozesse haben die Angewohnheit, sich zu verselbstständigen und nicht mehr kontrollierbar oder reversibel zu sein. Und im nur für Dystopisten attraktiven Szenario zu einer nicht mehr zu stoppenden Erhitzung des blauen Planeten zu führen.
Doch schon vorher wird die Problematik von immer mehr Menschen bei immer begrenzteren Produktionskapazitäten für Nahrungsmittel zu Konflikten führen. Das Wasser an sich wäre, da in mehr als ausreichendem Maß vorhanden, kein Problem. Abgesehen von der Hygiene und gerechten Verteilung. Die Krux liegt mehr in den begrenzten, zu bewässernden Agrargebieten, die zur Ernährung aller nicht ausreichen.
Und gerade die Menschen in den Gebieten, in denen sowohl Nahrungs- als auch Wassermangel herrschen, sind gezwungen sich mit immer tieferen Grundwasserbrunnen selbst die Lebensgrundlage abzugraben. Wobei sich die Problematik durch Überdüngung, totes Land, durch Erosion blanke Felsböden und generelle Umweltzerstörung immer weiter verschärft. Dadurch werden Flut- und Dürrekatastrophen aufkommen, die alles bisher Dagewesene in den Schatten stellen dürften.
Sicher können Ideen wie virtuelles Wasser, Kooperationen und Interessensgruppen zwischen den betroffenen Staaten und profane Entwicklungshilfe etwas zur Kompensation beitragen. Nur spätestens eine Hälfte nach Peak Oil wird der Westen seine heute schon umstrittene Biokraftstoffproduktion immens steigern. Und damit sowohl weniger Agrarrohstoffe zum Kauf anbieten als auch einen erhöhten, eigenen Wasserbedarf aufweisen. Insofern gut, dass die Nahrungs- und Agrarmultis schon seit geraumer Zeit dabei sind, in vorausschauender Weise die Süßwasserquellen aufzukaufen. Nebst dem umliegenden Land.
Wie bei so vielen Ressourcen könnte eigentlich ein Mehrfaches der aktuellen Weltbevölkerung versorgt werden, jedoch hapert es in beschämender Weise an der Verteilungsgerechtigkeit. Im Falle von Wasser ist es im Gegensatz zu Agrarrohstoffen oder Bodenschätzen in mehrfacher Hinsicht fatal.
Nicht nur, dass die Ernährungssicherheit und damit die Aufrechterhaltung des Friedens direkt mit dem blauen Gold verbunden sind. Dessen Verschmutzung und Verknappung hängt auch unmittelbar mit Armut und den zum Überleben notwenigen Verzweiflungshandlungen zusammen. Um nicht den Hungertod zu sterben, sind die Menschen gezwungen, ihre Zukunft zu zerstören. Indem sie für den Wasserhaushalt essentielle, ursprünglich naturbelassene Zonen und Quellgebiete überbeanspruchen.
Man kann nur hoffen, dass die zerstörten und noch zu zerstörenden Regenwälder und Waldgebiete in Lateinamerika, Afrika und Asien durch die nördlichen Nadelwaldgürtel kompensiert werden, um das Weltklima im Gleichgewicht zu halten. Vor allem, wenn im Zuge eines Temperaturanstiegs die Vegetationsgrenze der Arktis immer näher rückt. Und dadurch auf angetauten, ehemaligen Permafrostböden zum Wuchs einer neuen, klimaregulierenden Waldlandschaft beiträgt.
Als Schwarzmaler könnte man, so ziemlich jedes Untergangsszenario aus dem Hut zaubern. , Von der zu beklagenden, nie wieder herzustellenden Artenvielfalt in den Regenwäldern einmal abgesehen. Erleichtert wird das durch die Tatsache, dass auch die handelnden Akteure auf der Weltbühne keinerlei weiter reichende Hypothesen über die Konsequenzen ihres Handelns haben. .Nicht einmal über den ungefähren Temperaturanstieg innerhalb des 21. Jahrhunderts möchte man sich festlegen, darüber hinaus hat man schlichtweg nicht die geringste Ahnung.
Was dabei noch viel weniger beachtet wird, sind die Konsequenzen der Zerstörung eines seit Jahrmillionen selbstständig funktionierenden und sich regulierenden Wasser- und Klimasystems, aus dem flugs und willkürlich vom menschlichen Größenwahn Komponenten verändert, entfernt oder modifiziert werden. Wenn auf lange Sicht die meisten natürlichen Wälder durch Monokulturen zur Nahrungsmittelherstellung ersetzt werden und außerhalb dieser Industrieagraranlagen nackter, erodierter Fels einen schnellen Abfluss des Wassers, ohne durch Biomasse ermöglichten Dampfaufstieg zum Niederschlag beizutragen, garantiert, könnten sich Konsequenzen ungeahnten Ausmaßes einstellen.
Und das tragischerweise größtenteils zuerst in den Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländern.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brain is waterlogged.
Open "The Big Thirst" to any page, plump your finger down at any spot at random, and you'll probably come across something about water you didn't know or hadn't thought about. At least that's the way I experienced it.
It gets to be almost too much about water, but it's certainly well-reported and well-told and ultimately I think it's going to have an effect on how I think about water.
The thesis is straight-forward. The golden era of water is over, Fishman says. Abundant, cheap, clean water no longer will be available, even in developed nations. We need to change the way we think about water. It's a little hard to wrap your mind around this if you live, as I do, practically on the shore of the second-largest freshwater lake in the world. But Fishman makes his case effectively.
One of the heroes of his story is Patricia Mulroy, water czar of Las Vegas, who balances her region's unrelenting demand with its skimpy supply like a benevolent dictator.
This is part of the account of her efforts to convince banks and grocery stores that they really didn't have to have fountains to entertain their customers:
"The banks went absolutely crazy about us telling them to take out their fountains," she says. "I got the poop beat out of me. A psychologist called me up one morning. He said his patients needed the sound of a babbling brook to do their therapy.
"Really? Really?" Mulroy, a woman with a penetrating gaze, rolls her eyes. "I sent him a CD with the sound of running water."
But Mulroy is an anti-hero, from my point of view, because she wants water from the Great Lakes. She thinks we should be willing to share.
I say: You want our water, come and live through our winters. No one forced you to live in a desert.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my office mates came back from Spring Break and told me that this was a book that I had to read. He gave me a summary and told me it was all about one of my favorite subjects, water. I am an environmental engineer / water resources engineer. Water is my career and is now what I am teaching about to the next generation. Would this book enthrall a lady of water like me? The answer is yes. I was fascinated by The Big Thirst, and what is even better, it was written in such a way that you don’t have to be a water expert to enjoy it. Fishman wrote the book at a down to earth level that can easily be understood, while including enough facts and figures to keep someone like me interested.

Fishman tells the story of the importance of water to human beings and how the use of water was revolutionized one-hundred years ago when cities began to pipe clean water to each household in the United States. The problem is that now most Americans take this water for granted.

Fishman explored how the driest city in the United States, Las Vegas, uses innovative means to make sure that their fountains are flowing and guests are supplied with plentiful water in a wonderfully named chapter “Dolphins in the Desert”. I was fascinated, but “water czar” Patricia Mulroy also made me nervous when she stated that she thought Great Lakes water should be piped to places like Las Vegas. I take Fishman to task for not further exploring this idea and why it is not the same as the mining of oil. Water is a replenishable source. If you take it away from the Great Lakes to an outside watershed that far away, it is never coming back. Meanwhile the Great Lakes (which are already at historic lows), would not be able to provide the habitat for its native species, water for the people that live in the many cities that surround them, water for the boats that haul freight, iron ore, etc. on the lakes, and water for tourism which is a large part of the economy of most cities along the great lakes. I believe that if people want Great Lakes water, then they should move to the Great Lakes region. End of story. I will get off my soap box now and politely put it away.

Fishman also examine water uses in other countries – in particular Australia and India. I was amazed about the story of India’s water. I had no idea that the major urban cities do not have 24/7 water service and laugh that the idea is even possible. The water quality in India was distressing. I hope with all of the technical expertise and knowledge that India has, that they will soon tackle and solve this very pressing issue. It was also sad that lower income girls are not able to attend school in India because they spend their time either hauling water home for their families or waiting for the water truck in urban cities. Very sad.

I could go on about this book all day, but I will curb myself. The book did repeat some information towards the end, but Fishman was using it as points to wrap up his conclusions. Overall, this is an excellent book and a must read for everyone who drinks water and would like to continue to do so in the future.

This book had MANY great quotes, but I will pick only a couple to share:

“By 1936, they conclude, simple filtration and chlorination of city water supplies reduced overall mortality in U.S. cities by 13 percent. Clean water cut child mortality in half.”

“The problem is that bottled water is a wacky, funhouse-mirror version of the real world of water. Bottled water subtly corrodes our confidence in tap water, creating the illusion that bottled water is somehow safer, or better, or healthier. In fact, tap water is much more tightly regulated and monitored than bottled water.”

“Just in India, forty children an hour under five years old die from contaminated water. One Indian toddler, not even old enough for kindergarten, dies every ninety seconds from bad water, twenty-four hours a day.”

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

This review was originally published on my blog at: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2013/...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in a long time, found and purchased by my long-suffering wife as a Christmas gift. She found it for sale inside a well-known U.S. government Department. I was pleasantly surprised to see unvetted ideas flowing running on tap near, if perhaps not quite in, the corridors of power. [note to self: keep the dopey water puns under control]

“Some water needs to be secure and guaranteed for everyone, at the lowest possible cost, outside the market system, and some water needs to be unleashed in such a way that the market helps distribute and manage it much more effectively than it does now” (p. 281).

This is not the sort of sentiment that lends itself to being chanted at rallies or printed on bumper stickers, but it cheered me as a welcome exception to the general deficit of sensible plain talk about politics and the environment. The same can be said about the book in general.

Fishman does not minimize the gravity of the water problems all of us are likely to be facing at some time or another in the future. In addition, there are a good number of entertaining appalling examples of moronic short-sightedness and denial, chronicled with more sorrow than anger. However, the book portrays enough ordinary-seemingly people of good will who are thinking creatively and rationally about this topic to give hope for the future. Fishman makes clear that we’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of good quality water service to the parts of the world that have it already. He also shows some encouraging examples of improvement elsewhere.

Entertaining, readable, positive but not Pollyanna-ish. Simply great.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key idea I'll take away from this book is that all water problems in all areas of the world are solvable; the problem is not a water shortage, but our lack of willingness to value water as we should and to make the necessary infrastructure investments. Las Vegas - a city in the desert - uses water so well it actually returns surplus to reservoirs; Atlanta, Georgia - with abundant rainfall and surrounded by water sources - started running out because they saw no need to plan ahead. Cities in India had 24/7 clean, running water until the 70's and 80's and could have it again if there was the political willpower to make infrastructure investments.

We have the technology we need, we even have enough water - we just need the energy to think ahead. (Oh, and we need higher water bills.)

“There is no global water crisis, because all water problems are local, or regional, and their solutions must be local and regional. There is no global water crisis, there are a thousand water crises, each distinct.” -Charles Fishman

[Roaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the first books that I read that is related to my degree so I have nothing to compare it to. But the comparison is not necessary. The Big Thirst gives you everything you need to know about water for you to grasp an understanding of our relationship with water.
Fishman sets down the facts for you from the funny ones (that all water was at one point a dinosaurs piss) to the stress-inducing ones (how a water crisis is very close to happening if not happening right now).
In one of my classes (Water Resources Economics), there's a solved example that based on the population growth and current water consumption it estimated when we'll run out of water and it estimated that it would be in the 2050s. I didn't think much about it then but now I'm thinking that example was a bit inaccurate because it assumed that all water is a finite source, that the water isn't getting recycled over and over again. If it was just drinking water that would have made a lot more sense. I'm sueing my university.
I got into this book thinking it is only about the united states so I was pleased when other countries were talked about. However, that left me wanting more stories from other countries. Because this is a global issue, you have to at least discuss more than 3 countries in detail for it to cover the basics of what's going on. But this is already a big book so I see why 3 was the magic number, I just wish a follow-up book gets published because there's still so much more to this topic and this just wasn't enough for me.
Still, I think this book was a good place to start on my journey to understanding water and its sustainability. I recommend it to anyone interested in the environment and just wanna know more about the invisible life of water.

[Franky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found The Big Thirst to be a fascinating exploration of all things water. It was certainly an eye opener. As other reviewers have attested to, there are so many nuggets and ideas about the issue of water—many which, we, collectively regard with a blind eye—that Charles Fishman investigates and explores. This book will lead the readers to think about the ways in which they use or misuse water. (I know I am guilty of not using water as efficiently as I could). In short—if you’ll pardon the pun—The Big Thirst is a book literally dripping with factoids and insights about the significance of water in our lives.

The Big Thirst is a thoughtful peek into how much water pervades our daily lives and how we often take it for granted. Many points in our lives, as Fishman points out, water becomes “invisible” because we just expect it to be there when we need it. There are many areas where water is used that we never even consider. The author takes the discussion to various locations within the chapters—India, Las Vegas, Australia, to name a few—and digs in to concerns and issues, as well as how these areas are dealing with water supply, issues, how water is maintained, etc. I thought the chapter devoted to Las Vegas quite interesting, as they have quite a battle considering not only the surroundings, population, but also the climate.

Clearly, Fishman has done his homework, as the book has a journalistic feel, well researched and thought provoking. He has a hopeful and engaging energy in this book despite the key concerns and crisis brought forth.

Definitely an interesting book, well worth reflection after reading. Not many author could take the subject of water and make it the basis for an interesting 300 plus page book, but Fishman succeeds. The Big Thirst, yeah, it’s definitely far from a dry read.

[Munthir Mahir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our relationship with water is both visible and invisible. Behind the everyday misty shroud lies a complex web of politics, economics and psychology. Our relationship with water is easy and uneasy at the same time, we take it for granted and treat it as granted yet in the same time we commoditize it and pay exuberant amounts of money for it. We are willing to mismanage it yet unforgiving when authorities mismanage it. The world is not about to run out of water it has always been there and will always be there. However, the cost to individual countries and the planet as a whole is only increasing. All factors influencing water use and management are equally problematic, but they are not impossible to solve. In fact, as the book shows they can be tackled with relatively reasonable resources and efforts. You are going to come out with a new appreciation for water and begin to understand the complexity and complicated business of water usage and management. From the the roles that interplay to create demand and supply to psychological processes that shape the economics and politics of water use and management.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely makes you think differently about our relationship to water, and for that, it is valuable. However, the book overemphasizes and repeats (and repeats and repeats) some information, while ignoring other very interesting and relevant issues. To wit, Fishman skirts delicately around the issue of climate change (probably in an attempt to target a wide American audience without offending those who think that climate change isn't really a fact) without really addressing it as a major issue affecting the changing availability of water. And despite having described all of the political and cultural issues around water usage, he somehow decides that an economic revaluation of water (basically, increasing prices) will somehow magically make us all view and value our water differently - I strongly disagree. That said, this *is* worth a read - the info is interesting, but the writing is a bit obnoxious at points. I suggest getting a library loaner and skimming.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on our most important and most taken for granted natural resource. Regardless of your thoughts on climate change, the book is worth a read to understand how we use water and how we need to change our water culture.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've often wondered why clean safe drinking water from our faucet seems too good to be true. This book explains why we shouldn't take that for granted and what we can do to keep that in our future

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one,
But there is also a third thing, that makes it water
And nobody knows what it is."
—D. H. Lawrence, “The Third Thing”

The Big Thirst was a well-done book.

Author Charles Fishman is the acclaimed writer of the New York Times bestseller One Giant Leap, A Curious Mind (with Brian Grazer), The Wal-Mart Effect, and this book. He is a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award, the most prestigious prize in business journalism

Charles Fishman:


The book has a nice presentation style, and I found Fishman's writing to be lively and engaging. This is often very hit-or-miss in books, and I am extremely particular about how readable my books are. Thankfully, this one passed muster here. The author drops the quote above to open the book.

Fishman drops this quote early on:

"Our very success with water has allowed us to become water illiterate. But the golden age of water is rapidly coming to an end. The last century has conditioned us to think that water is naturally abundant, safe, and cheap— that it should be, that it will be. We’re in for a rude shock.
We are in the middle of a water crisis already, in the United States and around the world. The experts realize it (the Weather Channel already has a dedicated burning-orange logo for its drought reports), but even in areas with serious water problems, most people don’t seem to understand.
We are entering a new era of water scarcity—not just in traditionally dry or hard-pressed places like the U.S. Southwest and the Middle East, but in places we think of as water-wealthy, like Atlanta and Melbourne. The three things that we have taken to be the natural state of our water supply—abundant, cheap, and safe—will not be present together in the decades ahead. We may have water that is abundant and cheap, but it will be “reuse water,” for things like lawn watering or car washing, not for drinking; we will certainly have drinking water that is safe, and it may be abundant, but it will not be thoughtlessly inexpensive."

I was a bit apprehensive to start this one, as it could have easily turned into preachy ranting about the environment and climate change. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded, as the author approaches these topics in a balanced, nuanced manner here; free from zealous screeching. So, kudos to the author, because this is becoming more rare in books these days. I noticed that this book was published in 2012, so it could have predated a lot of the modern-day hysteria.

Some more of what is covered here includes:
• Las Vegas water usage; Lake Mead
• Atlanta
• Galveston Texas, Hurricane Ike
• Wool
• GMO engineering; Monsanto
• Big business in water: Coca-Cola, IBM, GE
• Bottled water
• Clean water; the human disgust mechanism
• Water in Australia
• Micropollutants in water; microplastics
• India

********************

I enjoyed The Big Thirst. It was well-researched, written, edited, and presented. Although it was a good book, it was a bit long, IMO. The audio version I have clocked in at a bulky ~13.5 hours. I think a decent chunk of the writing could have been edited out without a loss to the finished product.
I would still recommend it to anyone interested.
4 stars.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water
Charles Fishman

Who might have thought that a book about a relationship with water would be so engaging and interesting? Once again, we Americans lead the world in extravagance with one of the world's most precious commodities.

Most interestingly the book jacket says this:

"The Big Thirst brilliantly explores our strange and complex relationship to water. We delight
in watching waves roll in from the ocean; we take great comfort from sliding into a hot bath;
and we will pay a thousand times the price of tap water to drink our preferred brand of the
bottled version. We love water—but at the moment, we don’t appreciate it or respect it. Just as
we’ve begun to reimagine our relationship to food, a change that is driving the growth of the
organic and local food movements, we must also rethink how we approach and use water. The
good news is that we can. As Fishman shows, a host of advances are underway, from the
simplicity of harvesting rainwater to the brilliant innovations devised by companies such as
IBM, GE, and Royal Caribbean that are making impressive breakthroughs in water productivity.
Knowing what to do is not the problem. Ultimately, the hardest part is changing our water
consciousness."

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

3.4 stars

Happy Reading!

[Marissa Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so educational for where our water actually comes from and the effects of our usage of it. Sometimes his analogies would go off topic or be too large to where it was hard to follow, but it’s definitely a sobering book, and overall I needed to read this.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good content on a vital topic, initially quenching curiosity delightfully, but then it just keeps coming at you like a firehose and spills all over.
Good news is that we know a lot already about how to improve water management. Bad news is we tend not to do it.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book is crammed with an overwhelming amount of facts, science and stories about the uses and abuses of water in modern world culture it is ultimately a book which gives perspective on something which is so universal to life and yet so misunderstood.
Reading it about 8 years after publication makes it even more frighteningly relevant. Despite humanity's profligate expansion, as the author says, water will be fine in the long run.

[Wai-kit Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that make you do a double-take. In this case, on something we all know very well. It's water. But, I never knew that although we think of consuming water like we consume other earth's natural resources, like fuel, it is not true. Water is never consumed. In fact, no new water is created. The fresh water that falls down from the sky is billions of years old. Probably as old as the earth. So, you can't actually waste water, as in destroy it. Conversely, you can't really save water either. Not in the sense that by saving water here in Singapore could make those in suffering in water poverty would somehow have more water. In this sense, water is not a global crisis. All water crisis is local. Another surprising thing is that we have come to expect water to be free. Like air. Water is not priced in way where petrol is priced, not in the way where prices drive the demand for water. Price is not used to allocate water, with the so-called invisible hand. This, according to the author, is one of the biggest problem in the allocation of water when it become scarce. It's not a problem when there is more than enough water to go round. Even this thing about not having enough water is a fallacy in the purest sense. Scarcity of water is not a physical problem, unlike oil. It is a distribution problem. It's about tapping on the sources of water. Rain and rivers are the usual sources. But there are other sources, like waste/grey water, or sea water. Water can be cleaned to any required degree, to remove any impurities. The question is an energy issue.

Must say this book is an eye-opener. Many things I never knew. Like water exists in 4 (not 3) states!

Enjoyed reading this.

[Brandon Shuler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and well written. This book is a wake up call for the challenges facing our limited water resources in the face of expanding populations and climate change. Though there is some gloom and doom, this book points out that there are solutions. Unlike the global financial crisis, the climate crisis, and global famine crises, all water issues are local and require local changes of attitudes toward water and its usages. This is a must read.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hit me hard. I can’t believe that I hadn’t read it previously. Clearly presented facts and excellent narrative.

[Susan D'Entremont · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took what could be a dry (ha, ha) topic, and made it so interesting through a mix of anecdotes, facts, and interviews with interesting personalities trying new things in the world of water. Readers travel the world from Las Vegas to Australia to India. Everywhere has water problems, although they are all a bit different. But basically almost every place has been taking water for granted for way too long, even those places where people spend a couple of hours every day getting water.

The story that was most shocking to me was the one about India - that even as their wealth has soared, their regular access to clean water has declined precipitously. Even in the wealthiest neighborhoods you cannot get 24 hour access to regular water.

So many water problems are related to poor infrastructure. Because water is cheap and people think of it as a right, we have not maintained our infrastructure, which is causing us to lose lots of clean water. Access to a minimal level of water SHOULD be right, but because we aren't paying for other uses, it ultimately leads to less access to the level of water people need to live. Interesting to me that one of the poorest communities highlighted in the book - a village in India that established their own water utility - is one where people voted to have a higher percentage of their income go to water than in most other places in the world because they know the true value of water. And now they are able to earn more money because less of their time has to be spent accessing water and their health is better.

I also found the idea fascinating that you don't need pristine water for every purpose, and thus water should be priced accordingly. The water you drink, the water in your toilet, the water you put on your lawn, can all be different qualities, and once we get over the ewww factor, we will have a lot more flexibility and a lot less water waste. I will be interested to see if this approach is taken up by municipalities in my region, where we do not have a water issue. Yet.

But this is not a depressing, doomsday book. The best part about this book is that the author is clear that there are achievable solutions to many of our water problems. Unlike climate change or the world economy, solutions can be made at the regional level, and we know a lot about what can be done once people understand the value of water and the value of spending money on it.

I will never again look at my water bill in the same light after reading this book.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never leave the faucet on when I brush my teeth again. I realized I do it, because I feel rich, when the water is running and I can waste water, but after this book I will stop!
I learned a lot about water. He has some fun facts that get you thinking. I felt like he was prophetic in a lot of ways. I believe the golden days of water will soon end. That our children will not know the ease and low price that we do today.

One quote I liked is the one that bottled water will not save you. I think a lot of people have three cases of water in their basement and think they are good to go, for any crisis. But the amount of water it takes is so mind-boggling they have no idea how unprepared they really are.
I felt like he was too much of an advocate for raising our water rates. That somehow, the increase would force us to use water more wisely. I seriously doubt it, pal.

I felt like he did a great job with his research. He writes well. I think it clips along a bit better than Malcolm Gladwell, with his fluidity of thought and facts. (I'm a fan of Malcom's by the way.)

The girls that spend their lives getting water, is just heartbreaking!
He says you will never feel the same way about water after reading this, I think he could be right.

[David Buccola · Rating 4 out of 5]

In its descriptive role, the book is a fantastic exploration of our complex relationship with water. The author makes a really strong case that our days of ignoring water and taking it for granted are over. But he also stresses this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Its the prescriptive side of the book that falls apart. The author is apparently unfamiliar with the last thirty years of developments in economics advocates a price system for water. The magic of the market will smartly and efficiently get water where it's needed. Those same market forces that produced an excess of nearly 20 million "extra homes" during the Great Recession is somehow going to work for our planet's most valuable resource.

Despite this huge weakness the book is an enjoyable and fascinating read. With huge portions of the globe dealing with catastrophic doubt it's time that we begin thinking about water seriously, and this book does a great job at that.

[Steele Dimmock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultra Pure Water is toxic, Recycled waste water can be made cleaner then regular tap water, bottled water is unregulated and worse than municipality water. These were just some of the interesting factoids I got from this book.

The book is very america-centric but the author travels to Australia and India to explain the water issues impacting these other two countries. The details that he goes in to around Toowoomba, Perth and Adelaide water crisis' is impressive. The magnitude I was previously oblivious to.

There is a touch of chemistry at the start and sprinkled through out, something I think the author could have gone a little bit deeper in on. But was obviously cognisant that it could disengage any non-scientifically literate reader.

4 stars - Recommended reading for any Australian, but the author didn't have to pull all case-studies back to the US as the point of reference.

[Mary Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating and dismaying. It gave me a much better understanding of the complexities of water management in a changing environment and a rapidly-growing world.And it was full of surprises. Who knew Las Vagas was a cutting edge example of effective water management and conservation? Who knew that the creation of water to clean microchips was such a technological challenge and wonder? Well, obviously people did, but not me, as it is not my area of expertise. But I am so glad I read this book and learned so much. Especially as the drought worsens in parts of the country, this book is a valuable entry into understanding the complexities we face for the foreseeable and not foreseeable future.

[Jim Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening - can debate whether part of the issue is climate change but clear that our century of essentially free and unlimited access to clean water is over for the developed world. Amazing how developing countries like India have taken a step back in access to clear water. Great job of mixing human stories with the cold hard facts. Great examples of simple steps (like purple piped recycled water for gardening/outdoor use) as a means of decreasing our need to acquire and purify all the water that comes into our homes. The idea of having corporations include water use as an item on their annual reports also makes great sense.

[Cary Hillebrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Franklin's quote "When the well runs dry we learn the value of water" is as apt today, perhaps even more so then it was when Ben wrote it in the eighteenth century. Most people who are not professionally involved with the water and wastewater industry (and perhaps too many of us who are) tend to take this indispensible resource for granted. Charles Fishman, an investigative reporter brilliantly covers the story of water from all angles in a way that after reading his book, both the layperson and the professional will have a new respect for water and will never look at water the same way again. A meticulously researched work that is engrossing, informative, and challenges the reader.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Big Thirst is one of the best books I've ever read on resource economics. Fishman writes like the journalist he is, probing into deep policy issues without leaving the reader feeling left out or in over his head. A wonderful read, full of insightful anecdotes about water policies - both good and bad - from across the globe. A delightful book that will make you think twice about leaving the faucet running the next time you brush your teeth or paying for a bottle of Evian. Thumbs up!