Turning on the kitchen faucet for a glass of clear, cool water, a privilege for astonishingly few people in the world, is soon to vanish for all but the very wealthy or the quite privileged: that's the core message of investigative journalist Rothfeder's sobering report on the future of a substance essential to life. In his thorough overview of the future of freshwater resources, Rothfeder (The People vs. Big Tobacco) opines that water is fated to become a commodity, bought up by multinationals and sold to those who can afford it. The case he makes is relentless, from damning dams in Egypt, China and the U.S., to the dry prospects for Atlanta and Los Angeles, where inexorable population growth has far outpaced water supplies; from the likelihood of Middle East water wars to a desperate scramble to perfect desalinization technology. Like the drip of water on stone, Rothfeder's steady exposition of horrors will wear down any reader's doubts that water is the next flashpoint of global politics, human rights and health issues. Unfortunately, his eye-opening accumulation of facts is undercut by his dry style. This book lacks the graceful prose of Canadian journalist Marq de Villiers earlier book on the same topic (Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, 2000), but makes up for that with its solid, scary reporting. (Oct.)
Forecast:With plenty of water news on tap recently, from E. coli–based deaths just last year in smalltown Ontario to former Sen. Paul Simon's August prediction of trouble to come because of water shortages in the Middle East, prospects are good for intensive review and interview coverage for Rothfeder's timely book.
