Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle Over Water in a World About to Run Out

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Summary: Water crisis turns rock musician into sage
Review: Beginning with "Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water" in 1986, many books have been written detailing various blood-boiling aspects of the gross mismanagement of the world's water resources. Most were written as polemics, and justifiably so.

Here in "Every Drop for Sale", author Jeffrey Rothfeder treats the subject using more temperate language. But, given the facts, the reader's reaction is still likely to be one of outrage. It is testament to the author's skill that he is able to raise the alarm while remaining objective and clear-sighted about both progress and possible solutions.

The book ranges widely over the effects of the proliferation of dams, diversions, reservoirs, irrigation projects, privatizations, and subsidizations. As Rothfeder guides us through Rapid City (Iowa), the Narmada River in India, the ill-fated village of Cochabamba in Bolivia, and many other water mismanagement sites, he proves to be an effective and moving chronicler. The power of his book lies in his ability to combine a big picture view with attention to the lives of the powerless who happen to be downstream from some megalomaniac water project.

Cochabamba proves to be both the most arresting and yet ironically one of the more promising of Rothfeder's accounts. Townspeople were first subjected to the loss of their major industry, tin mining. That loss of local revenue then led to the deterioration of their water distribution system. The Bolivian government tried to rescue the situation by privatizing the town's water management out to Bechtel, which promptly raised water fees. Something approaching civil war resulted. Instead of simply bemoaning the path taken, Rothfeder sees in the eventual outcome (after destruction, arrests, and deaths, the government cancelled its deal with Bechtel) both a salutary object lesson and a hope that, with a newly recognized need for safeguards, privatization can in fact be a critical part of addressing the world's accelerating water crisis.

Giving validity to this optimistic outlook, the author concludes that same chapter with a look at how the Blair government turned the UK's privatization efforts, begun disastrously under Margaret Thatcher, into a successful model for the rest for the world. (He characterizes that program as one "strictly overseeing the free water market, while leaving it sufficiently unrestricted that profit incentives will motivate private corporations".) This juxtaposition of stories is characteristic of the book's effective pivot around both problems and ideas for resolution.

Rothfeder argues that the commoditization of water and its corollary, the privatization of water management, are not only inevitable but also that they can be turned to advantage. This is debatable; but he puts forward a compelling case for his belief that both are so.

The standard author's blurb describes Rothfeder as an author and "consulting editor". In the course of the book, he reveals that he came to his water sensitivity while touring as a rock musician. We're fortunate that his itinerary took him to Rapid City. The book is not lengthy, but feels comprehensive, well-informed, and persuasive. We need works like "Cadillac Desert" to fire our indignation at how we got into this fix, but we need "Every Drop for Sale" to remind us that all is not yet lost.