Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity (Worldwatch Environmental Alert) - Softcover

Postel, Sandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393317447 ISBN 13: 9780393317442

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997

Synopsis

As we approach the twenty-first century, we are entering a new era-an era of water scarcity.

We have taken for granted seemingly endless supplies of water flowing from reservoirs wells, and diversion projects; access to water has been key to food security, industrialization, and the growth of cities. In this book from the Worldwatch Institute, Sandra Postel explains that decades of profligacy and mismanagement of the world's water resources have produced signs of shortages and environmental destruction. She writes with authority and clarity of the limits-ecological, economic, and political-of this vital natural resource. She explores the potential for conflict over water between nations, and between urban and rural residents. And she offers a sensible way out of such struggles. Last Oasis makes clear that the technologies and know-how exist to increase the productivity of every liter of water. But citizens must first understand the issues and insist on policies, laws, and institutions that promote the sustainable use of water.

About this title

About the Author

Sandra Postel lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she directs the Global Water Policy Project. She is a Pew Fellow in Conservation and the Environment and a former vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute. Her previous book, Last Oasis, now appears in eight languages and was the basis for a PBS television documentary.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

By far the greatest gains lie in redirecting water used in cities and towns for a second use on farms. Though typically viewed as pollutants, most wastewater constituents are nutrients that belong on the land, where they originated. Farmers worldwide spend heavily on chemical fertilizers to give their crops nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium that domestic wastewater contains in large amounts....By using municipal water twice-once for domestic use and again for irrigation-would-be pollutants become valuable fertilizers, rivers and lakes are protected from contamination, the irrigated land boosts crop production, and the reclaimed water becomes a reliable, local supply.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0393317447
• ISBN 13: 9780393317442
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 266