Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly, and the Politics of Thirst

by Diane Raines Ward

Updated with new material

Every day, we hear alarming news about droughts, pollution, population growth, and climate change—which threaten to make water, even more than oil, the cause of war within our lifetime. Diane Raines Ward reaches beyond the headlines to illuminate our most vexing problems and tells the stories of those working to solve hydrologists, politicians, engineers, and everyday people. Based on ten years of research spanning five continents, Water Wars offers fresh insight into a subject to which our fate is inextricably bound.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, Politics, History, War

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Diane Raines Ward is a journalist whose work has appeared in Smithsonian, Newsweek, Connoisseur, and International Wildlife. She and her husband, Geoffrey C. Ward, co-wrote the book Tiger-Wallahs: Encounters with the Men Who Tried to Save the Greatest of the Great Cats. Together they run a nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation efforts in India.

Reviews

[LiN · Rating 3 out of 5]

หลากกรณีศึกษาเกี่ยวกับการแก้ปัญหาแหล่งน้ำ มีทั้งที่ได้ผล และซ้ำเติมหนัก เรื่องน้ำนั้นอ่อนไหว ต่างพื้นที่ แม้จะเป็นปัญหาเดียวกัน ก็ไม่อาจแก้ได้ด้วยวิธีเดียวกัน เทคโนโลยีปัจจุบันน่าจะก้าวข้ามไปเล่มนี้ไปมากแล้ว แต่ในประเทศพัฒนาช้าบางประเทศก็จะเห็นว่า 'ยังไม่ก้าวไปไหนเลยนี่หว่า' เพราะเรื่องน้ำหรือทรัพยากรมันไม่ได้มีแค่มิติของวิทยาศาสตร์ วิศกรรม แต่ยังเกี่ยวข้องกับการเมืองอย่างเหนียวแน่น

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book in so far as it shows water management is complex and that large scale engineering projects generally create as many problems as they solve. These are often ecological, but also the potential for catastrophe.

The book is very basic and I would only recommend it for someone trying to develop a basic knowledge of water related infrastructure.

The points made are often simple, with little referencing or broader discussion. It is work done by the author and as such seems heavily anecdotal at times. It is not a particularly serious book and the tone and style are not academic.

[DoctorM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to water issues, and one that focuses not just on privatisation issues or concerns over depleted resources, but looks as well at the "other" water wars--- the struggle to preserve places like the Netherlands and Venice, and that looks at irrigation projects not just as a priori environmental sins, but as efforts, even if misguided or badly done, to feed populations and sustain life. Rather light on technical or scientific background, but a balanced general introduction.

[John Nieman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super informative and very well written! I’d love to read a follow up book.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halfway through this book, I was pissed because 95% of it up to that point was an ode to the genius and hubris of the engineers who have had the chutzpah to build the world's biggest dams, thinking that they knew enough to control the waters of the world in an effort to prevent drought or flood to to enrich farmers. Thankfully, after that point the author started to admint that this hubris was wrong, that engineers failed to take into account the effects on the entire ecosystem, and that our world is in danger from the same issues or from ones exacerbated by all this dredging, controlling, and rerouting. But I still hesitate to call this a conservation-oriented book.

She is right in saying that these issues are important to the entire world. p.19: "Readings of ice cores have shown that climate change happens abruptly, and therefore, scientists fear that an atmospheric inversion could happen in a hurry. "In human history," said the German magazine Der Spiegel, "far smaller temperature shifts have doomed kingdoms, set off wars, forced people into exile, and created new religions.""

Since 93% of the dams in the U.S. don't create any hydropower, I'm interested in using microhydro (tiny machines that can be inserted even alongside a canal) to harness some of the energy, as a way to reduce our dependence on coal. p.147: "Because it makes use of local materials and skills and is more reliable than power from government grids, small hydro can be acutely important in developing countries and in remote areas. Costs vary widely, but micro-hyrdro is competitive even in remote places when taking into account the cost of grid connections or the use of diesel fuel in generators. ...In the United States, the U.S., Department of Energy says tht we can easily squeeze 10,000 megawatts out of small-scale hydro - enough power to serve about 10 million people."

Flood plain subsidization is another issue to tackle. "At the end of the twentieth century in the United States, ten million homes were planted solidly in the wandering zones of rivers, and floods were the number-one destroyer of property and lives."

p.217: '"Our whole society was built on the notion that we could and must control nature, that we must master our circumstances, technologically," environmentalist Roland Clement said to me not long ago. "But natural systems are the consequence of a long evolution, and ecology is teaching us that we must first understand these systems to see how far we may modify them for our benefit without disastrous consequences. This is a new point of view that arose with ecological science, that world systems have a functional reality of their own and that if we push them too far, the systems will either break down or backfire." That would have been a good quote with which to end the book.

[Sull McCartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and informative

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, bounced around a bit but still enjoyable.

[Ivan Kinsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best researched books I have read on the water crisis afflicting many parts of the world. You often hear about how conflicts might start in the future over water, and Diane Ward's book helps to explain why. In too many places water is taken for granted and polluted or wasted, where in fact it should be treated as a precious resource. Of particular interest to me was the development of big dam projects and how these have been associated with both strong advantages and disadvantages.
I read this book as part of my current research into water harvesting techniques being used in Ethiopia to turn arid parts of the country - that are the result of man's actions - into fertile areas once again, mainly through agroforestry and water conservation methods.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to read this book right after 'Pillar of sand." There are lots of over-lapping ideas. This book is rather general and would have been improved with some maps and graphics. There is a lot of information about a large variety of water issues in the world. However, I think the title is pretty misleading - it just talks about issues and how people are working (or not) on solving the issues.

I felt more like this book was a series of anecdotes of issues around the word than a cohesive whole.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite interesting and well-written piece of nonfiction, I read this before the global warming thing really came to be in focus. Much of the information presented here about the use of water for energy amazed me, as well as the depressing facts about how much coal is still used in the world. Of course, it might be different to read it post-Inconvenient Truth- now that people talk about these things all of the time.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about water but the interesting thing, at least for me, is that Ms Ward did not rehash many of the well know battles - Cochabamba, bottled water, French multi-nationals, etc. The stories are all too familiar for people who follow water issues - poor planning, dams and water projects that do more harm than good, and flooding. Talking with experts and "normal" people alike make this book very readable and for those not immersed in the subject.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very glad I read this. While I felt I knew a little bit about what was going on with water in the world, the recent drought in California drew me to pick up this book. Wow. There is so much I didn’t know about water and it’s role in the world. From writing about drought in California, to dams in India, to flooding in Bangladesh, the author opened my eyes to both what is going on and what questions and issues need to be thought about in responding to these concerns.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn about the water conflicts that are plaguing the modern world. I first started reading this book in 2004 but finally picked it up again in 2009...it's a little outdated now in the context of global warming and such, but still worth your time.

[Kristi]

Good read~living in the Great Lakes this is informative. Also read National Geographic's Water - a Thirsty World.
Will make you think again

[Arthur Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

หลัก ๆ จะเล่าถึงการชลประทาน การทำเขื่อน ว่าการจัดการกับน้ำมีผลกระทบอย่างไรต่อระบบนิเวศและภูมิประเทศอย่างไร

เนื้อหาค่อนข้างเฉพาะทาง ค่านันค่านี่ระดับต่าง ๆ ตัวเลขยุ่บยั่บไปหมด 555

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

comprehensive, well-written book

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and prescient book.