Water Resources: Efficient, Sustainable and Equitable Use

by Wolfram Mauser

Overview

Water is a vital part of every ecosystem on the planet. It is a prerequisite for the basic function and productive efficiency of life on Earth. Today, approximately a third of the earth's population suffers because of water scarcity, and by the year 2025, this percentage is likely rise to two-thirds. Water Resources: Efficient, Sustainable and Equitable Use shows what conflicts this will entail, and provides a basis for possible solutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906598075
Publisher:	Haus Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Series:	The Sustainability Project Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Wolfram Mauser is Professor for Geography and Remote Sensing at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich. He is also Chairman of the National Committee for Climate Change Research of the German Research Foundation and the German Ministry for Education and Research.

Table of Contents

Editor's Foreword vii

Preface xix

1 Introduction 1

2 Water in the Global Life-Support System of the Earth 6

2.1 Water - a unique substance 8

2.2 Why are life and water an inseparable unit? 12

2.3 The third equilibrium 13

2.4 Human life on Earth 19

2.5 What kind of framework does nature provide for using water? 24

2.6 Water usage through nature and society 27

2.7 Blue and green water 29

2.8 Summary 35

3 How is Water Used? - Regional Examples 37

3.1 The Aral Sea 37

3.2 The River Nile 47

4 How Much Water is Available? - A New Perspective 64

4.1 The Dublin statement on water and sustainable development 66

4.2 Water in numbers 72

5 Water and Land Use 75

5.1 What do people do locally? 75

5.2 What do people do globally? 83

5.3 How have people changed global land use? 89

5.4 People were nomads 90

5.5 People became farmers 95

5.6 People are city dwellers 99

5.7 People behave differently than the Earth system 103

5.8 Water for people and nature 106

5.9 Summary 114

6 How Much Water Do People Need? 116

6.1 Drinking water 117

6.2 Sanitary water 117

6.3 Water for industry 123

6.4 Water for food 127

6.5 Water and lifestyles 132

6.6 Summary 137

7 Virtual Water 139

7.1 What is virtual water? 141

7.2 Combing consumption and environmental sustainability: The Water Footprint 147

8 The Future of our Water Resources 155

8.1 How much water will we need in the future? 155

8.2 Where will the additional water come from? 162

8.3 Using water better: more crop per drop 167

8.4 Ways to achieve the sustainable use of the water resources 176

Glossary 182

References 185

Editorial Reviews

A gift to sustainability science by German businessman and editor Wiegandt, the "Sustainability Project" (www.the-sustainability-project.com) is a 12-volume, 3000-page series (of which these four titles were submitted for review) initially published in Germany. The aim is to present current research on complex topics in a manner accessible to general readers while keeping content scientifically sound. The series succeeds, but by no means is it a walk in the park; Wiegandt makes no apologies, asking 12 leading experts to explore critical environmental, economic, and social pressure points that must be addressed in the next 30 years. A survey of some of its constituent titles suggests this set's breadth: Our Threatened Oceans, Feeding the Planet, The Demise of Diversity, Overcrowded World?, Climate Change, and The New Plagues. The volumes are not numbered, but Jill Jäger's Our Planet: How Much More Can Earth Take?, with its discussion of planetary "overshoot," generally introduces the other titles, while Harald Müller's take on future world governance in Building a New World Order: Sustainable Policies for the Future provides a fitting conclusion. The argument carried relatively uniformly through all 12 volumes—i.e., confront the dismal truth about conditions, then suggest possible courses of action—lends the set unity, as does the way project authors refer to one another's work (an obvious method of linking the pieces together, a cumulative index, is lacking). Many of the solutions offered are practical and well known, e.g., label consumer products with metrics that will inform potential buyers of their real ecological cost and use less energy. Otherrecommendations are sensible but tough, e.g., "dematerialize" American society by a factor of ten within a few decades and make the knowledge presented here part of the educational curriculum from kindergarten through university. But one of Müller's recommendations, though wished-for, seems downright contrary to (human) nature—his suggestion to outlaw war. VERDICT Glossaries, graphics, and brief reading lists help to make the dauntingly comprehensive "Sustainability Project" palatable for advanced readers. While academic and large public libraries will no doubt want the entire set, smaller libraries could safely buy the relatively inexpensive individual titles on hot topics like climate change and water resources. Those wanting more graphics and less text will find a superb alternative purchase in Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent's The New Atlas of Planet Management. James Gustave Speth's The Bridge at the End of the World would be another solid choice.—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

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