Water E-Book

David L. Feldman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: PRS - Polity Resources series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 283

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Water is our planet’s most precious resource. It is required by every living thing, yet a huge proportion of the world’s population struggles to access clean water daily. Agriculture, aquaculture, industry, and energy all depend on it - yet its provision and safety engender widespread conflict; battles likely to intensify as threats to freshwater abundance and quality, such as climate change, urbanization, new forms of pollution, and the privatization of control, continue to grow.

But must the cost of potable water become prohibitively expensive for the poor - especially when supplies are privatized? Do technological advances only expand supply or can they carry hidden risks for minority groups? And who bears responsibility for managing the adverse impacts of dams funded by global aid organizations when their burdens fall on some, while their benefits accrue to others? In answering these and other pressing questions, the book shows how control of freshwater operates at different levels, from individual watersheds near cities to large river basins whose water - when diverted - is contested by entire countries. Drawing on a rich range of examples from across the world, it explores the complexity of future challenges, concluding that nations must work together to embrace everyone's water needs while also establishing fair, consistent criteria to promote available supply with less pollution. 

Leseprobe

Water

Resources

Peter Dauvergne & Jane Lister, Timber

Michael Nest, Coltan

Elizabeth R. DeSombre & J. Samuel Barkin, Fish

Jennifer Clapp, Food

Gavin Bridge & Phillipe Le Billon, Oil

Water

DAVID LEWIS FELDMAN

polity

Copyright © David Lewis Feldman 2012

The right of David Lewis Feldman to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2012 by Polity Press

Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-7456-5658-8

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: www.politybooks.com

Contents

Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

1. Freshwater: Facts, Figures, Conditions

2. Geopolitics and Sustainability

3. Threats to Freshwater

4. Who’s in Control?

5. Water Ethics and Environmental Justice

Notes

Selected Readings

Index

Figures and Tables

Figures

1.1  Distribution of global freshwater

1.2  Per capita water availability

1.3  Global freshwater uses

1.4  Per capita water uses by country

1.5  Effects of climate change on the freshwater cycle

2.1  Tennessee Valley Authority: region of operation and power plants

Tables

2.1  Sustainability criteria for water resources planning

2.2  Major climate impacts to freshwater uses

4.1  Comparative charges for water – four countries

4.2  Bottled water use – US perspective

4.3  The seven sins of bottled water

5.1  UNESCO Commission on Ethics and Scientific Knowledge

5.2 “New” and “old” notions of environmental justice and water

Acknowledgments

Many ideas went into the writing of this book, and my debt to colleagues, current and former students, and friends who shared in their formulation – or merely helped sharpen my thinking – are too numerous to acknowledge completely. Among those whose ideas have been especially illuminating regarding the importance of how we manage and care for water, to questions of justice, community, authority, power, public good, and social learning, have been Helen Ingram, Henry Vaux, Jean-Daniel Saphores, Stan Grant, Joshua Gellers, Maria Carmen Lemos, Dodd Galbreath, Aaron Routhe, Nancy Brannon, and Denise Fort. I am also grateful to two anonymous reviewers, and for the support of the faculty and staff of the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. Thanks also go to Louise Knight and David Winters at Polity for the opportunity to contribute to this innovative series. Finally, I dedicate this book to Justin Paul, whose generation will inherit many of the problems chronicled here, but in which I am confident solutions will be found. Last but not least, I also dedicate this book to Jill, without whose love, patience, and encouragement it would not have been possible

CHAPTER ONE

Freshwater: Facts, Figures, Conditions

Freshwater is our planet’s most precious resource. Every living thing needs it to survive, but in many places people increasingly face difficulty finding it. In Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, some two-thirds of the city’s two million residents rely on private water deliveries by teamsters because the region is running out of groundwater. Those who cannot afford to pay queue up at spigots located outside mosques to gather free water when it is available. It is not unusual to see women collecting families’ shower water to re-use for laundry.

While international aid agencies have proposed reducing rural groundwater mining, building additional wells, and restricting agricultural irrigation, no one seems to think these remedies will be enough to help Sana’a. Some believe the underlying problem is a lack of rain made worse by climate change. Others point to continued in-migration from the country’s poor, drought-stricken rural areas – to the tune of 150,000 people a year. Some things are certain: the city cannot afford additional water mains; most of Yemen’s aquifers are drying up; and the government has been battling Shiite Muslim rebels in the north, a separatist movement in the south, a resurgent Al Qaeda movement, and piracy in the Gulf of Aden. In short, any remedies to its water shortage must reckon with Yemen’s violence, instability, and poverty.1

If too little freshwater is Yemen’s problem, how to pay for it is never far from the minds of most Bolivians. In 1997, in order to receive a World Bank loan, the country’s congress voted to turn over control of its water utilities to two corporations – one, French and the other, American. Both imposed strict rules on urban residents’ ability to collect rainwater from their roofs, imposed charges for drawing water from private wells, and increased service rates by nearly 200 percent.

Responses to these actions were swift. Uprisings occurred in Cochabamba and La Paz as poor, angry residents protested these actions, and martial law was imposed in an effort to restore order. Bechtel and Aguas de Illimani SA (a subsidiary of France’s Suez), the companies granted licenses to operate Bolivia’s utilities, countered that higher rates were necessary to expand service and compensate for previous government corruption that had squandered resources which could have been used to improve water delivery and treatment infrastructure. Their defense was to no avail. Both companies abandoned their operations and, in 2005, President Evo Morales established a Ministry of Water and charged it with overseeing public supply and providing universal access. The country’s constitution now guarantees a right to water and bans privatization. Despite reform, provision remains woefully inadequate because the country is too poor to invest in reliable freshwater supplies or better treatment. In 2008, the government appropriated a mere $800,000 for nationwide improvements.