Back to the Well: Rethinking the Future of Water

Conventional wisdom holds that the world is nearing "peak water." De Villiers (Windswept) agrees that water problems persist but argues that they are more localized than global, and that local issues such as water shortages, pollution, ownership, and distribution are all "more tractable%E2%80%94easier to solve, not harder" than worldwide ones. In five sections, he addresses water issues with equal parts caution and confidence. He writes that the state of groundwater, for example, is "dire" but hardly catastrophic, depending on the region. The same goes for the world's rivers, which are in big trouble, but not so far gone that they cannot be saved. More controversial will be de Villiers's claim that water privatization portends neither the doom expressed by neoliberal opponents nor the utopia envisioned by free-market cheerleaders. "Almost always," he notes, "%E2%80%8A%E2%80%98privatization' means various degrees of partnership between public and private sectors." He takes similarly measured approaches to fracking (not enough is known about its long-term effects on water) and climate change (a cause of droughts but not the only one). This book will ruffle some feathers as well as open some minds, but for anyone who cares about the earth's most precious resource, it is worth the read. Agent: Shaun Bradley, Transatlantic Agency. (Sept.)