When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century.WHEN THE RIVERS RUN DRY: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century FRED PEARCE Earth contains 1.1 quadrillion One thousand times one trillion, which is 1, followed by 15 zeros, or 10 to the 15th power. See space/time. acre-feet of water, yet its supply of fresh water is quickly dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. to crisis levels. In individual consumption and agriculture, each person in the world uses about 500,000 gallons of water per year. A global trade in water is having an indelible effect on the world's rivers. Pearce, a veteran writer on water issues, traveled to more than 30 countries to analyze the state of the world's freshwater supply. He describes how the Rio Grande Rio Grande, city, Brazil Rio Grande (rē`  grän`dĭ), city (1991 pop. no longer flows into the Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of MexicoGolfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east and wetlands in Nigeria have disappeared. Pearce examines how reservoirs give up water to evaporation, how dams threaten the ecological balance of their surroundings, and how political disputes over water supplies can lead to violence, with an ever-increasing global population, even desalination desalination or desalting Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. of ocean water won't be enough to meet the world's water needs. Pearce asserts that countries must develop better methods for decreasing water waste. Beacon, 2006, 320 p., b&w illus., hardcover, $26.95. |
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