Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity (The Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series)

Rating:
Summary: Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity
Review: For anyone who is interested in water supply issues worldwide, this book is for you. I especially like the way the author is objective and presents both a realist and idealistic endevor. I am from West Texas so I am concerned about water. The book gives great information dealing with how private business has been able to cope with water scarcity, and how farmers are using new methods of irrigation to provide food for the world yet conserving water. Also, it shows how these projects would have never taken place if government did not take action. It talks about water scarcity globally, and makes us understand how this can affect us locally.

Rating:
Summary: Water - what's it worth?
Review: Sandra Postel published LAST OASIS - FACING WATER SCARCITY back in 1992, year of the RIO Conference on Development and Environment, also called the Earth Summit. Re-issued in 1997 (with a new introduction) it formed the basis for a PBS documentary in the series "Cadillac Desert". Is it still relevant today? So much has been written on water issues since, from environmental concerns to promoting the privatization of water, that the question is valid.

Still, as we approach the 10-year review conference of RIO in Johannesburg, politicians, government officials, economists, environment and development experts and activists meet to take stock of what happened to the many promises of RIO - reflected in Agenda 21. In this context, it is interesting and useful to read LAST OASIS with a view to weighing the global water situation today against the problems and possible solutions outlined ten years ago.

Postel, a long-time specialist in environmental issues, traveled across the globe to review problem areas as well as conservation initiatives and solutions first hand. In addition to giving us an overview of the problems, she also outlined projects and initiatives representing a variety of approaches to address the challenges: either by living with and adapting to water scarcity or by finding solutions for preserving and replenishing the finite clean water resources available to us.

When it was published, Postel presented a comprehensive examination of the causes for water scarcity across the globe. Although not up-to-date anymore in terms of statistics, her analyis of the issues and her review of danger zones have not lost relevance. We are still facing the same dramatic divide: On the one hand, close to one billion people live without access to clean water and their daily requirements can only be met through enormous physical strain, in particular on women and girls who are the traditional water carriers. The inaquate water resources threaten the mere survival of the majority of the world's poor who live on the land and off the land to secure their livelihood with small-scale subsistence agriculture. On the other hand, water in industrialized societies, and also increasingly by the elites around the world, is treated as a cheap commodity: too often wasted and its safety jeopardized through carelessness and/or through industrial pollution. A major culprit in the long term destruction of safe water resources was then and remains today large scale agro-business. Postel argues the reasons for that and also reviews alternative and small-scale systems that have proven to be successful in delivering good crops as well as reducing the strain on the soil and the water table. Postel's 1999 book "Pillar of Sand" focusses on irrigation systems.

It is only unfortunate that the book was not updated in 1997 (or since). Some of the encouraging initiatives Postel described were "pending" or in progress and it would be good to know if any of them have come to fruition.

Is LAST OASIS still relevant today? Yes, it should be in any collection of books for those interested in and concerned with this most fundamental of environmental issues. It is a good starting point for informed debate on the future of water availability and safety. Will future generations debate a right to clean and adequate water ? Postel's call for a new ethics on water and the development of a "water security" system do not go quite that far, but she makes a strong case for it. She argues on two major fronts. Water conservation can be achieved and encouraged through "proper pricing" of water and by creating incentives for wise water use. If industries, and in particular agriculture had to pay the real cost of water, efficient and ecological systems would be designed. Complementing this policy of water pricing would be a new "water ethic". This ethic would focus on our responsibility for comprehensive water ecological systems; it would have to accommodate our short-term needs for water with our long-term responsibility for water conservation. Postel knows that this ethic would require a major philosophical shift and that it would lead to other fundamental questions on quality of life, on the need to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. It would change the agenda for economic growth towards ecologically based sustainable development.

Rating:
Summary: Water - what's it worth?
Review: Sandra Postel published LAST OASIS - FACING WATER SCARCITY back in 1992, year of the RIO Conference on Development and Environment, also called the Earth Summit. Re-issued in 1997 (with a new introduction) it formed the basis for a PBS documentary in the series "Cadillac Desert". Is it still relevant today? So much has been written on water issues since, from environmental concerns to promoting the privatization of water, that the question is valid.

Still, as we approach the 10-year review conference of RIO in Johannesburg, politicians, government officials, economists, environment and development experts and activists meet to take stock of what happened to the many promises of RIO - reflected in Agenda 21. In this context, it is interesting and useful to read LAST OASIS with a view to weighing the global water situation today against the problems and possible solutions outlined ten years ago.

Postel, a long-time specialist in environmental issues, traveled across the globe to review problem areas as well as conservation initiatives and solutions first hand. In addition to giving us an overview of the problems, she also outlined projects and initiatives representing a variety of approaches to address the challenges: either by living with and adapting to water scarcity or by finding solutions for preserving and replenishing the finite clean water resources available to us.

When it was published, Postel presented a comprehensive examination of the causes for water scarcity across the globe. Although not up-to-date anymore in terms of statistics, her analyis of the issues and her review of danger zones have not lost relevance. We are still facing the same dramatic divide: On the one hand, close to one billion people live without access to clean water and their daily requirements can only be met through enormous physical strain, in particular on women and girls who are the traditional water carriers. The inaquate water resources threaten the mere survival of the majority of the world's poor who live on the land and off the land to secure their livelihood with small-scale subsistence agriculture. On the other hand, water in industrialized societies, and also increasingly by the elites around the world, is treated as a cheap commodity: too often wasted and its safety jeopardized through carelessness and/or through industrial pollution. A major culprit in the long term destruction of safe water resources was then and remains today large scale agro-business. Postel argues the reasons for that and also reviews alternative and small-scale systems that have proven to be successful in delivering good crops as well as reducing the strain on the soil and the water table. Postel's 1999 book "Pillar of Sand" focusses on irrigation systems.

It is only unfortunate that the book was not updated in 1997 (or since). Some of the encouraging initiatives Postel described were "pending" or in progress and it would be good to know if any of them have come to fruition.

Is LAST OASIS still relevant today? Yes, it should be in any collection of books for those interested in and concerned with this most fundamental of environmental issues. It is a good starting point for informed debate on the future of water availability and safety. Will future generations debate a right to clean and adequate water ? Postel's call for a new ethics on water and the development of a "water security" system do not go quite that far, but she makes a strong case for it. She argues on two major fronts. Water conservation can be achieved and encouraged through "proper pricing" of water and by creating incentives for wise water use. If industries, and in particular agriculture had to pay the real cost of water, efficient and ecological systems would be designed. Complementing this policy of water pricing would be a new "water ethic". This ethic would focus on our responsibility for comprehensive water ecological systems; it would have to accommodate our short-term needs for water with our long-term responsibility for water conservation. Postel knows that this ethic would require a major philosophical shift and that it would lead to other fundamental questions on quality of life, on the need to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. It would change the agenda for economic growth towards ecologically based sustainable development.

Rating:
Summary: The Whirlwind Tour
Review: This book is like one of those European tourbuses that promise to escort you through twelve countries in just seven days. If you're just there to make some deliveries, it's quite convenient. If you just want to have something to talk about with your friends, it's a means. If you've never been to Europe and want to familiarize yourself, it's exhausting.

I write this review over five years since the most recent edition, so the staying power of the book is clear. But it is ripe for a newer edition. An up-to-date copy of "The Last Oases" would be an excellent reference. And the original bibliography is certainly worth buying the whole book in any case.

This book is divided into two sections. The first, called "Trouble on Tap", is an overview of the water situation in many countries throughout the world. It looks at supplies, type and amount of use, and political factors. This is the weaker part of the book. Under each chapter heading, various countries or regions are addressed, and each time a new place name appears, clusters of concentrated statistics pop up like mushrooms after the rain. This approach makes actual assimilation of the facts nearly impossible. It relies on some fundamental understanding of the geography of river basins, politics, agricultural practices, etc. I think that rather than structuring the chapters according to engineering, politics, or farming, a better approach would be to deal with geographical regions one at a time. It's easier to grasp a host of facts about China than facts about a hairball of dams in China, Egypt, the U.S., and Russia.

The second part of the book, Living within Water's Limits, discusses how the world is solving its water problems. This part of the book was most interesting. When Postel describes, for example, industrial cooling you can place yourself inside a factory and walk through the steps with her. Her vivid explanation of microirrigation processes puts you out in the fields under the baking sun.

Mercifully, this book came before the craze for overwrought poetry and literary reference that has swept the science popularizing book field. The writing throughout the book is clear without melodrama or pedantry. The problem is one of structure, and (sadly) creeping obsolescence.

Rating:
Summary: The Whirlwind Tour
Review: This book is like one of those European tourbuses that promise to escort you through twelve countries in just seven days. If you're just there to make some deliveries, it's quite convenient. If you just want to have something to talk about with your friends, it's a means. If you've never been to Europe and want to familiarize yourself, it's exhausting.

I write this review over five years since the most recent edition, so the staying power of the book is clear. But it is ripe for a newer edition. An up-to-date copy of "The Last Oases" would be an excellent reference. And the original bibliography is certainly worth buying the whole book in any case.

This book is divided into two sections. The first, called "Trouble on Tap", is an overview of the water situation in many countries throughout the world. It looks at supplies, type and amount of use, and political factors. This is the weaker part of the book. Under each chapter heading, various countries or regions are addressed, and each time a new place name appears, clusters of concentrated statistics pop up like mushrooms after the rain. This approach makes actual assimilation of the facts nearly impossible. It relies on some fundamental understanding of the geography of river basins, politics, agricultural practices, etc. I think that rather than structuring the chapters according to engineering, politics, or farming, a better approach would be to deal with geographical regions one at a time. It's easier to grasp a host of facts about China than facts about a hairball of dams in China, Egypt, the U.S., and Russia.

The second part of the book, Living within Water's Limits, discusses how the world is solving its water problems. This part of the book was most interesting. When Postel describes, for example, industrial cooling you can place yourself inside a factory and walk through the steps with her. Her vivid explanation of microirrigation processes puts you out in the fields under the baking sun.

Mercifully, this book came before the craze for overwrought poetry and literary reference that has swept the science popularizing book field. The writing throughout the book is clear without melodrama or pedantry. The problem is one of structure, and (sadly) creeping obsolescence.

Rating:
Summary: Facing the Challenge of Water Scarcity Worldwide
Review: Water scarcity may be to the nineties what the oil priceshocks were to the seventies--a source of international conflicts andmajor shifts in national economies, according to the Worldwatch Institute an environmental research organization in Washington D.C.

"Water scarcity will affect everything from prospects for peace in the Middle East to global food security, the growth of cities, and the location of industries," said Sandra Postel, author of Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity.

(NOTE:This book has been re-released in 1997 with a new introduction by the author. The release is in conjunction with the PBS documentary "Last Oasis," which is based on the book, and competition for water is intensifying between city dwellers and farmers around Beijing, New Delhi, Phoenix, and other water-short areas.

Even as supplies tighten, the Ford Foundation-funded study finds that building large new dams and river diversions is becoming prohibitively costly and environmentally damaging.

"In most cases, measures to conserve water and use it more efficiently are now the most cost-effective and environmentally sound ways of meeting water needs," Postel says. "Together they constitute our 'last oasis'--and they have barely been tapped."

Last Oasis finds that, with techniques available today, farmers could cut their water demands by 10-50 percent, industries by 40-90 percent, and cities by a third with no sacrifice of economic output or quality of life.

Since 1950 global water use has more than tripled. Traditionally, engineers have met rising demands by building larger water projects and drilling ever more groundwater wells. But limits to expanding the supply are sw! iftly coming to light.

Falling water tables from the overpumping of groundwater are now ubiquitous in parts of China, India, Mexico, Thailand, the western United States, north Africa, and the Middle East. From the Aral Sea in central Asia to south Florida's Everglades, the diversion of water for farms and cities threatens to destroy irreplaceable ecosystems that support valuable fisheries and treasure troves of wildlife. And the cost of building new irrigation projects has risen markedly, contributing to a 6 percent decline in per capita irrigated land since 1978.

Africa currently has 11 water-scarce countries--nations with renewable supplies of less than 725 gallons per person per day, a minimum benchmark for being able to meet food, industrial, and household water needs while maintaining a healthy aquatic environment. By the end of this decade, four others will join the list, and the total number of Africans living in water- scarce countries will climb to 300 million, a third of the continent's projected population.

The Middle East, where 9 out of 14 countries are water-scarce, suffers the most concentrated scarcity in the world today. Said Postel, "By the end of the nineties, water problems in the Middle East will lead either to an unprecedented degree of cooperation or a combustible level of conflict."

Last Oasis makes clear that today, "instead of continuously reaching out for more water, the challenge is to do more with less--by conserving and recycling water and using it more efficiently."

The book shows that currently available technologies and methods can cut water demand dramatically, and gives numerous examples.

In the Texas High Plains, supplied by the dwindling Ogallala aquifer, many farmers have adapted old-fashioned furrow irrigation systems to a new "surge" technique that distributes water more uniformly and reduces waste. Water savings have averaged 25 percent, and the initial investment of about $30 per hectare is typically recouped within th! e first year.

Israel pioneered the use of highly efficient drip irrigation; Israeli farmers cut average water use on each irrigated hectare by a third, even while raising crop yields. Worldwide, use of drip irrigation has grown 28-fold since the mid-seventies, but still accounts for less than 1 percent of world irrigated area.

Industry has achieved some of the most dramatic gains in conservation, Last Oasis shows. In Japan, total industrial water use peaked in 1973 and then dropped 24 percent by 1989. Industrial output, meanwhile, climbed steadily. As a result, the value of output from each cubic meter of water supplied to Japanese industries rose from $21 in 1965 to $77 (in real terms) in 1989--a more than tripling of industrial water productivity.

Cities as diverse as Singapore, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Jerusalem have shown conservation to be a money-saving way of meeting their residents' water needs. In the greater Boston area, for example, public education, the installation of water-efficient fixtures in homes, industrial water audits, and system-wide leak repair reduced total annual water demand by 16 percent in about 5 years, bringing it down to the level of the late sixties and postponing the need to develop costly new water sources.

"The key to realizing these savings," Postel says, "is putting in place pricing strategies, policies, and management practices that promote efficiency rather then wastefulness. It's particularly important to end the widespread practice of heavily subsidizing irrigation, which accounts for two-thirds of the world's total water use."

Last Oasis suggests that governments, the World Bank, and development agencies make a complete accounting of the environmental and social effects of large water projects.

Last Oasis concludes with a call for a new "water ethic" that has the protection of natural ecosystems and equitable use of water at its core. "Water is the basis of life, and our stewardship of it will determine not ! only the quality but the staying power of human societies."

Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity is the third book in the Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series. Released in 1992, Updated 2nd edition released in 1997.