Water Ethics: A Values Approach to Solving the Water Crisis

Fully revised and updated, this second edition of Water Ethics continues to consolidate water ethics as a key dimension of water-related decisions.

The book introduces the idea that ethics are an intrinsic dimension of any water policy, program, or practice, and that understanding what ethics are being acted out in water policies is fundamental to an understanding of water resource management. Alongside updated references and the introduction of discussion questions and recommended further reading, this new edition discusses in depth three significant developments since the publication of the first edition in 2013. The first is the growing awareness of the climate crisis as an existential threat, and associated concern about adaptive strategies for sustainable water management and ways of using water management for climate mitigation (e.g., practically through agricultural soil management and conceptually through ethics awareness). Second, there has been increased clarity among the religious community, Indigenous leaders, and progressive academics that ethics needs to become an arena for application and action (e.g., the Vatican encyclical Laudato Si, protests at Standing Rock and Flint, Michigan, in the US, and climate demonstrations worldwide). Thirdly, there have been new normative water standards ranging from "water stewardship" (industry initiative), water charters (Berlin) and the on-going initiative to develop a global water ethics charter.

Drawing on case studies from countries including Australia, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States, this textbook is essential reading for students of environmental ethics and water governance and management.

David Groenfeldt is the founder and Director of the Water-Culture Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, USA. He has previously worked on irrigation research at the International Water Management Institute (Sri Lanka), the design and management of irrigation projects for the World Bank, and rural development consulting for various international agencies. He is also the co-editor of Global Water Ethics (Routledge, 2017).