What do you think?
Rate this book
Living with Water Scarcity
Do you worry that there is not enough water for people, the economy and environment? Do you wonder if the water in our taps and rivers is safe or polluted? Do you want to know if farmers waste water, utilities charge too much, or bottled water destroys ecosystems? You're not alone in asking questions. The headlines say "drought, pollution, conflict and insecurity," but the stories offer few solutions. Living with Water Scarcity clarifies the connections among personal and social water flows in an accessible style. It describes the origins and costs of water scarcity and explains how to address it with fair and pragmatic policies. You and your community can live with water scarcity --- just manage water as the precious resource it is.
- GenresEconomicsNonfiction
124 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2014
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 25, 2015
This is a really great and important book. Best of all, it's free online! My biggest gripes with it are that it can be very technical and dry for the math and economics illiterate at times, but the author incl7ded fun illustrations for comparisons sake.
The one other thing that bothered me was the target audience. I don't really see practical solutions as a regular citizen. Not that I was expecting the author to necessarily tell me to take shorter showers or stop my weekly super soaker parties, but he talks about using market forces to stop the dangerous consumption of water that could threaten our species. Not a small task, but more of a call to action for citizens to support in their communities as a team. Not "things the average citizen can do to reduce excessive water consumption." That said, we should all read this book before we're dying of thirst.
The one other thing that bothered me was the target audience. I don't really see practical solutions as a regular citizen. Not that I was expecting the author to necessarily tell me to take shorter showers or stop my weekly super soaker parties, but he talks about using market forces to stop the dangerous consumption of water that could threaten our species. Not a small task, but more of a call to action for citizens to support in their communities as a team. Not "things the average citizen can do to reduce excessive water consumption." That said, we should all read this book before we're dying of thirst.
Read
December 26, 2017[original blogpost here. I write book reviews every month on the blog :-)]
I heard about this book from the Econtalk episode where David Zetland talks with Russ about water scarcity. This book is short (100 pages) and enjoyable, and touches on the very important problem of water scarcity and examines economic and political solutions. I also really liked the economic analysis and he writes the book in a very legible and simple to understand way.
Many people dismiss market based solutions for water scarcity by claiming that water is a right. While water is indeed a right, getting water where it is needed is not a right, and requires money in infrastructure, resources, and energy. Water is also, despite claims otherwise, a commodity and a resource, so if water is always given away for free (or relatively close to free), then people will use water at that price. This is a particularly important point- water has a sharply declining marginal utility, so having that first bit of water (for drinking, washing, bathroom, etc.) is really important, and people will pay almost anything for it, but once you have a lot of water, water for your lawn, pool, etc. is just not as important. If it is all free, then that declining utility doesn't matter. A lot of the book is about incentives, and if water is free, the costs, including potentially hefty environmental costs, are not reflected, and people have no reason to care.
The solution is not supply side, because no matter what you do, as long as water is cheap and almost free, then there will never be enough water. Expensive desalination plants and shipping water is not the solution, because (and I thought this was really amusing) as costs of water increases for the consumer from these expensive solutions, demand will drop, and the extra water will become unnecessary anyways as consumers find ways to cut their water usage. The solution is to fix the demand for water with prices.
People may complain about higher water prices, but acknowledging realistic water scarcity is better than living with water shortages. I really like this quote from the book:
"Prices generate revenues and reduce demand, but they also give customers choices. A regulation on outdoor watering may annoy a granny with flowers. A desalination plant may annoy environmentalists. An education campaign is condescending to some and a waste of breath on others. A campaign to install low-flow toilets may install sparkling receptacles in unused second bathrooms. Prices send a direct signal at the same time as they accommodate many responses. Customers can choose their own mix of technologies and techniques. Some will take shorter showers. Others will install drip irrigation. Some will shower at work. Others will just pay more. A higher price for water, like a higher price for any commodity, allows people to choose how much water to use. Choice is a pleasant option compared to water shortages or tickets from water cops."
A counter argument I often hear is that rising water prices will be unfairly difficult for the poor, but in reality water prices will still cheap- a few dollars per thousand gallons. But what about the poorest people in the world living in underdeveloped countries? The same- increasing water prices will actually help those most in need of clean water. With better priced water, people can get better, more reliable water and service, instead of dirty water delivered intermittently, like in Egypt where water is only available at certain times of day. Even in countries with less robust infrastructure than the US, real water prices reflect environmental costs and provides choice.
I heard about this book from the Econtalk episode where David Zetland talks with Russ about water scarcity. This book is short (100 pages) and enjoyable, and touches on the very important problem of water scarcity and examines economic and political solutions. I also really liked the economic analysis and he writes the book in a very legible and simple to understand way.
Many people dismiss market based solutions for water scarcity by claiming that water is a right. While water is indeed a right, getting water where it is needed is not a right, and requires money in infrastructure, resources, and energy. Water is also, despite claims otherwise, a commodity and a resource, so if water is always given away for free (or relatively close to free), then people will use water at that price. This is a particularly important point- water has a sharply declining marginal utility, so having that first bit of water (for drinking, washing, bathroom, etc.) is really important, and people will pay almost anything for it, but once you have a lot of water, water for your lawn, pool, etc. is just not as important. If it is all free, then that declining utility doesn't matter. A lot of the book is about incentives, and if water is free, the costs, including potentially hefty environmental costs, are not reflected, and people have no reason to care.
The solution is not supply side, because no matter what you do, as long as water is cheap and almost free, then there will never be enough water. Expensive desalination plants and shipping water is not the solution, because (and I thought this was really amusing) as costs of water increases for the consumer from these expensive solutions, demand will drop, and the extra water will become unnecessary anyways as consumers find ways to cut their water usage. The solution is to fix the demand for water with prices.
People may complain about higher water prices, but acknowledging realistic water scarcity is better than living with water shortages. I really like this quote from the book:
"Prices generate revenues and reduce demand, but they also give customers choices. A regulation on outdoor watering may annoy a granny with flowers. A desalination plant may annoy environmentalists. An education campaign is condescending to some and a waste of breath on others. A campaign to install low-flow toilets may install sparkling receptacles in unused second bathrooms. Prices send a direct signal at the same time as they accommodate many responses. Customers can choose their own mix of technologies and techniques. Some will take shorter showers. Others will install drip irrigation. Some will shower at work. Others will just pay more. A higher price for water, like a higher price for any commodity, allows people to choose how much water to use. Choice is a pleasant option compared to water shortages or tickets from water cops."
A counter argument I often hear is that rising water prices will be unfairly difficult for the poor, but in reality water prices will still cheap- a few dollars per thousand gallons. But what about the poorest people in the world living in underdeveloped countries? The same- increasing water prices will actually help those most in need of clean water. With better priced water, people can get better, more reliable water and service, instead of dirty water delivered intermittently, like in Egypt where water is only available at certain times of day. Even in countries with less robust infrastructure than the US, real water prices reflect environmental costs and provides choice.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews