Water Crisis: Myth or Reality?

Always considered a classic renewable resource, after a hundred thousand years of farming and industry, rivers in many parts of the world are running dry and the groundwater is over pumped. In addition, the rate at which water sources are becoming contaminated with waste from humans, industry, and agriculture is truly alarming. Do these factors add up to a water crisis that merits drastic, large-scale action?

Not necessarily say the editors of Water Crisis: Myth or Reality. They challenge this pessimism, concluding that while there are serious global water issues to be considered, the concept of a global water crisis is largely overstated. The book examines the issues and explores which conditions are permanent and unchangeable and which are remediable and changeable. The chapters explore when and where severe regional and local water problems occur and make suggestions about how they may be solved in a deliberate, non-crisis manner.

The book covers recent breakthroughs in desalination technologies, the eco-sanitation revolution, international trade in agricultural products, methods of governance and negotiation in water allocation, and pricing and devolution of property rights and the roles they play in solving water issues. The editors, along with a panel of world-renowned experts, suggest that water issues can be solved over the next few decades using new technologies and processes.

Part I: Water Policy and Management Part II: The Economic Value of Water Part III: Irrigation Part IV: Virtual Water Part V: Groundwater Part VI: Water and Poverty Alleviation Part VII: Water and Nature Part VIII: New Technologies to Cope With Water Scarcity

Peter P. Rogers, of Harvard University in the United States, is a member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century. He has served as a consultant on water resources to various government agencies in India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Morocco, and Costa Rica. He has also consulted widely with the UN system, the World Bank, UNIDO, WHO, FAO, UNDESP, ADB, and many domestic US agencies.

M. Ramón Llamas is Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at the Complutense University of Madrid. A Fellow of Spain’s Royal Academy of Sciences, Professor Llamas chairs the Academy’s Section of Natural Sciences. He is a former President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (1984-1989), Vice-president of the International Water Resources Association (2001-2003) and Coordinator of the UNESCO Working Group on the Ethics of Freshwater Uses (1998-1999).

Dr. Luis Martínez-Cortina is a researcher at the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME) with research interests in hydrogeological studies and groundwater flow numerical models. He has worked on a number of European Union Research Projects, as well as the Groundwater Project of the Marcelino Botin Foundation. He has served as Coordinator of the Spanish Groundwater Users Association (AEUAS).