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.
As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions.
The U.S. government predicts that forty of our fifty states-and 60 percent of the earth's land surface-will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political instability is likely to follow.
Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day.
Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Let There Be Water reveals the methods and techniques of the often offbeat inventors who enabled Israel to lead the world in cutting-edge water technology.
Let There Be Water also tells unknown stories of how cooperation on water systems can forge diplomatic ties and promote unity. Remarkably, not long ago, now-hostile Iran relied on Israel to manage its water systems, and access to Israel's water know-how helped to warm China's frosty relations with Israel.
Beautifully written, Seth M. Siegel's Let There Be Water is and inspiring account of the vision and sacrifice by a nation and people that have long made water security a top priority. Despite scant natural water resources, a rapidly growing population and economy, and often hostile neighbors, Israel has consistently jumped ahead of the water innovation-curve to assure a dynamic, vital future for itself. Every town, every country, and every reader can benefit from learning what Israel did to overcome daunting challenges and transform itself from a parched land into a water superpower.
What’s New in the Third Edition:Prepares operators for licensure exams Provides additional math problems and solutions to better prepare users for certification exams Updates all chapters to reflect the developments in the field Enables users to properly operate water and wastewater plants and suggests troubleshooting procedures for returning a plant to optimum operation levels
A complete compilation of water science, treatment information, process control procedures, problem-solving techniques, safety and health information, and administrative and technological trends, this text serves as a resource for professionals working in water and wastewater operations and operators preparing for wastewater licensure exams. It can also be used as a supplemental textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying environmental science, water science, and environmental engineering.
Offering a quantitative approach to the study of groundwater quality and the interaction of water, minerals, gases, pollutants and microbes, this book shows how physical and chemical theory can be applied to explain observed water qualities and variations over space and time. Integral to the presentation, geochemical modelling using PHREEQC code is demonstrated, with step-by-step instructions for calculating and simulating field and laboratory data. Numerous figures and tables illustrate the theory, while worked examples including calculations and theoretical explanations assist the reader in gaining a deeper understanding of the concepts involved.
A crucial read for students of hydrogeology, geochemistry and civil engineering, professionals in the water sciences will also find inspiration in the practical examples and modeling templates.
See what’s new in the Fourth Edition:
· Additional bioconcentration factors
· Additional aquatic and mammalian toxicity values
· Additional degradation rates and corresponding half-lives in various environmental compartments
· Ionization potentials
· Additional aqueous solubility of miscellaneous inorganic and organic compounds
· Additional Henry’s Law constants for 1,850 compound entries
· Additional octanol-water partition coefficients for 1,475 compound entries
· Additional biological, chemical, and theoretical oxygen demand values for various organic compounds
· Four additional tables: Test Method Number Index, Dielectric Values of Earth Materials and Fluids, Lowest Odor Threshold Concentrations of Organic Compounds in Water, and Lowest Threshold Concentrations of Organic Compounds in Water
· A section for each compound entry describing potential sources of compounds detected in the environment
The compounds profiled include solvents, herbicides, insecticides, fumigants, and other hazardous substances commonly found in the groundwater and soil environments, the organic Priority Pollutants promulgated by the U.S. EPA under the Clean Water Act of 1977, and compounds commonly found in the workplace and environment. The presentation remains virtually the same as previous editions, making the information easy to find and immediately useful.
Author David Bainbridge has spent more than 25 years actively involved in restoring lands across the American Southwest. A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration presents the results of his years of fieldwork, as well as research and experience from scientists and practitioners around the globe.
The book discusses the ecology of desert plants, explores the causes of desertification and land abuse, and outlines the processes and procedures needed to evaluate, plan, implement, and monitor desert restoration projects. It sets forth economical and practical field-tested solutions for understanding site characteristics, selecting and growing plants, and ensuring that they survive with a minimal amount of water and care. Each chapter represents a guide to a critical topic for environmental restoration; extensive photographs, diagrams and drawings give detailed information for immediate application, and additional resources are included in appendixes.
A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration is the first comprehensive book focused on restoring arid regions, and clearly demonstrates that arid lands can be successfully rehabilitated. In addition to restorationists, the book will be an invaluable resource for anyone working in arid lands, including farmers, ranchers, gardeners, landscapers, outdoor recreation professionals, and activists.
The Columbia River Treaty: A Primer is a vital work that clearly explains the nature of this complex water agreement between Canada and the United States and how its impending update will impact communities, landscapes, industry and water supplies between the two countries for many years to come.
The Columbia River Treaty ratification in 1964 created the largest hydropower project in North America, with additional emphasis on flood protection for the USA. As the Treaty approaches its 60th anniversary, and the first opportunity for modification, its signatories are preparing proposals for new ways forward, and stakeholders on both sides of the border are speaking up.
This primer explores the initial intent of the Treaty and its success to date, its costs to Columbia Basin residents and ecosystems, and new influences the signatories must now consider. Shifts in social norms related to the environment, equity and social justice, new views on the relevance of Indigenous traditional and local knowledge, and the economic and physical effects of a changing climate – are all considered as factors in future Treaty governance. The primer concludes with a summary of the perspectives that currently exist between and within each country with respect to Treaty benefits and outlines the next steps that will take place in the negotiation process. The authors conclude with a call to action, in the hope that a renewed Columbia River Treaty might prove a model for outstanding transboundary water agreements around the world as they strive to meet not only the challenges of the present day but also the needs of future generations.
A source of practical know-how, the book covers sampling and storage, analytical methodology, and guidelines and procedures for quality assurance. It presents analytical methods with the step-by-step procedures that help practitioners implement these methods successfully into the laboratory, making them instantly applicable without consulting further literature. The book also contains essential information for developing or improving quality control and quality assurance programs in the laboratory. It includes the availability and measurement of standard reference materials, blank estimation and correction, control of recoveries, and statistical evaluation of quality assurance data.
Analytical chemistry is a very active and fast moving area. Despite the development of innovative new analytical techniques for chemical trace element research, obtaining reliable data at ultra-trace levels remains a formidable challenge. A complete and practical guide, this book delineates proven methods that consistently yield reproducible data in routine work.
Arguably the first book devoted entirely to examining this important resource, Wadi Hydrology presents methodologies for sustainable management of wadis and their water resources. Through unique physical approaches, field cases, sample interpretations, and various applications to different models, this book provides an in-depth understanding of these systems that illustrates the efficiency of harnessing water from wadis. The author compiles the most up-to-date information on arid region hydrology, including specific techniques for hydrological calculations and desertification assessments, and includes examples and solved problems in each chapter.
This book will give a balanced, impartial account of the whole situation to its present day, its key aim being to inform the reader about the facts and mechanisms of the dialogue process and the need to approach decisions in a different way.
Readers will benefit from an account of the mistakes made by both sides, the input from government, the scientific community, the press and public, and can apply this knowledge to future environmental issues.
This authoritative reference book is comprehensive in its coverage of the geomorphology of desert environments, and is arranged thematically. It begins with an overview of global deserts, proceeds through treatments of weathering, hillslopes, rivers, piedmonts, lake basins, and aeolian surfaces, and concludes with a discussion of the role of climatic change. Written by a team of international authors, all of whom are active in the field, the chapters cover the spectrum of desert geomorphology.
Key themes addressed include:Water security as a foreign policy issue The interconnected variables of water, food, and human security Dimensions other than military and international relations concerns around water security Water security theory and methods, tools and audits.
The book is loosely based on a masters level degree plus a short professional course on water security both given at the University of East Anglia, delivered by international authorities on their subjects. It should serve as an introductory textbook as well as be of value to professionals, NGOs, and policy-makers.
The Committee on Hydrologic Science was established by the National Research Council in 1999 to identify priorities for hydrologic science that will ensure its vitality as a scientific discipline in service of societal needs. This charge will be performed principally through a series of studies that provide scientific advice on the hydrologic aspects of national program and U.S. hydrologic contributions to international programs.
This first report contains a preliminary assessment of the hydrologic science content of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). Because this is a short and focused report, little effort is spent to reaffirm the established and successful elements of the USGCRP. In fact, the Committee generally endorses the findings of the National Research Council (NRC) report Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade (NRC, 1998a; the so-called Pathways report) in this respect. Instead the attention here is directed toward the most critical missing hydrologic science elements in the FY2000 USGCRP. This brings the focus to the terrestrial component of the water cycle. The integrative nature of terrestrial hydrology could significantly strengthen the USGCRP.
The text comprises sixty solved hydrogeological problems, which are logically organised into ten chapters, including hydrological cycle, morphometric analysis, hydrological properties, groundwater flow, well hydraulics, well design and construction, groundwater management, seawater intrusion, groundwater exploration and groundwater quality. The practice of pedagogy of hydrogeology in yesteryears was a two-tier approach of theoretical principles with toy problems and in-situ case studies for research start-up. This book bridges the gap between routine problem-solving and state-of-the-practice for future.
The book is primarily intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Earth Sciences, Civil Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Hydrogeology and Hydrology. It also serves as an excellent handy reference for all professionals.KEY FEATURES
• Key Concept succinctly explores the models, methods and theoretical concepts related to each problem.
• Necessary equations and formulae are specified.
• Appendices and Glossary are included, leaving no scope to refer any other book.
• Bibliography broadens the scope of the book.
New material on complying with the NPDES program for Phase II and in running a stormwater quality program
The latest information on stormwater utilities
Metric versions of many of the equations, charts, and design monographs
The latest information on Best Management Practices (BMPs)
New concepts in stormwater master planning
An understanding of the recent evolution in stormwater practice
Site design practices to reduce stormwater impacts
Lots of additional information related to the development of municipal stormwater programs
The authors provide the most up-to-date information available, including water quality best management practices and stormwater master and quality management plans. They present little known but valuable tables, charts, and procedures covering both common designs and more specialized situations. Both English and Metric versions of charts and nomographs are included where available and where deemed useful for the designer.
The text presents an understanding of what works and what doesn't in real-world municipalities. Topics on planning and institutional concerns focus on programs dealing with public awareness, ordinances and regulations, and financing. Technical design topics range from the practical aspects of hydrologic procedures to the design of culverts and storm drainage systems. This stand-alone document provides all the essential information for the design and analysis of most stormwater management facilities.
Municipal Stormwater Management, Second Edition covers all aspects of municipal Stormwater management, from planning and institutional concerns to technical design considerations. It details the design applications and the institutional aspects of Stormwater management that planners and administrators face on a daily basis. The material and depth of coverage make this book the perfect text for both professional and academic use.