Publications

Killing the Hidden Waters: Slow Destruction of Water Resources in the American Southwest, by Charles Bowden. University of Texas Press, 1977. A well written book on how various cultures in the U.S. Southwest have decided to use our water and other resources, and what effect that has had on the people and the environment.

Keepers of the Spring: Reclaiming Our Water in an Age of Globalization, by Fred Pearce. Island Press, 2004. An excellent resource documenting both the mistakes of inappropriate western engineering schemes that make fresh water scarcer, and the successes of indigenous traditional water harvesting schemes that lead to fresh water abundance.

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Risner. Penguin Books, 1993. A very well written book on water policy, politics, and use in the American West. A video series based on the book is also available.

Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters, by Robert Glennon. Island Press, 2002. A great book on the consequences of our country’s growing dependence on our dwindling groundwater resources.

Desert Waters: From Ancient Aquifers to Modern Demands, by Nancy R. Laney. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 1998. A good short and concise publication on our water situation in the Southwest with tips on how to reduce our water use.

Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supply, by Maude Barlow. International Forum on Globalization Special Report, 1999. Online summary and ordering information at ifg.org/bgsummary.html. This is a very clear and concise report on the state of our fresh water resources and how we can protect and enhance them.

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water, by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke. The New Press, 2002. An important book on the world’s growing fresh water crisis, the corporate assault on the water “commons,” and how ordinary citizens all over the world are taking back control, becoming the “keepers” of the fresh-water systems in their localities.

Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, by Sandra Postel. Worldwatch Institute, 1997. A great book looking at the mismanagement of the world’s water resources, and how we can promote more sustainable use of that water through conservation and a water ethic.

Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit, by Vandana Shiva. South End Press, 2002. An excellent book examining the international water trade, damming, mining, and aquafarming, Shiva exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world’s poor as they are stripped of their right to a precious common good.

“Troubled Waters,” by Sandra Postel. The Sciences (March/April 2000). A look at the world’s fragile supply of fresh water.

YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, no. 28, Winter 2004. This issue is devoted to water issues including access to fresh water as a human right, protecting watersheds, indigenous water conservation, and more.

The World’s Water, 2004-2005, The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, by Peter Gleick. Island Press, 2005. Gives a global overview of water use with use by country, dams by country, etc.

When the Rivers Run Dry by Fred Pearce. Beacon Press, 2006. Focuses on the dire state off the world’s rivers to provide our most complete portrait yet of the growing world water crisis and its ramifications for us all. Pearce argues that the solution to the growing worldwide water shortage is not more and bigger dams but greater efficiency and a new water ethic based on managing the water cycle for maximum social benefit rather than narrow self-interest.

Online Resources

www.citizen.org/cmep/water. The Water for All Campaign of the national non-profit public interest organization, Public Citizen.