Chasing Water: A Guide for Moving from Scarcity to Sustainability

by Brian Richter

Water scarcity is spreading and intensifying in many regions of the world, with dire consequences for local communities, economies, and freshwater ecosystems. Current approaches tend to rely on policies crafted at the state or national level, which on their own have proved insufficient to arrest water scarcity. To be durable and effective, water plans must be informed by the culture, economics, and varied needs of affected community members.
 
International water expert Brian Richter argues that sustainable water sharing in the twenty-first century can only happen through open, democratic dialogue and local collective action. In Chasing Water , Richter tells a cohesive and complete story of water where it is happening, what is causing it, and how it can be addressed. Through his engaging and nontechnical style, he strips away the complexities of water management to its bare essentials, providing information and practical examples that will empower community leaders, activists, and students to develop successful and long-lasting water programs.
 
Chasing Water will provide local stakeholders with the tools and knowledge they need to take an active role in the watershed-based planning and implementation that are essential for water supplies to remain sustainable in perpetuity.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2014

Reviews

[Keith Akers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an accurate but stodgy and unimaginative account of the politics of water issues. I was impressed by his understanding of how water conflicts arise and how they can be resolved or avoided altogether. It starts out by describing a water crisis over the Colorado river in the early 20th century. Subsequent chapters deal with various political aspects; the “seven principles for sustainability” describe how we can all get along. The discussion demonstrates a good overall grasp of how to “navigate” water issues in political terms. The author understands the difference between water use and water consumption, which is so elusive for many writers on the subject.

While I admire the author’s political acumen in terms of present water realities, I lost patience quickly as soon as I grasped that there was to be no discussion or even acknowledgment of more long term issues. Most conspicuously, what about livestock agriculture? Isn’t this where all the water is going? Would we even need irrigation in the United States were it not for livestock agriculture? And what about population issues, or economic growth? There is no historical perspective, or mention of the collapse of previous civilizations due to water issues (ancient Mesopotamia comes to mind), which might have given his discussion a much-needed historical perspective, and some sort of sense of urgency.

The author gives no account of salinization of soils at all. He seems to be aware of the problem, as it is mentioned in passing, but feels no pressure to elaborate on it. I can’t help but feel that this is because salinization takes a long time to become a problem — but it seems to be intrinsic to all irrigated agriculture, so surely it is worth a discussion. And on top of this, the pointless violence against animals in the photo on p. 136, seem to illustrate that he is not really concerned about anything except human interests narrowly conceived.

To summarize, the book purports to discuss water issues but does not address livestock agriculture, population growth, or economic growth. Why should we bother with the details of this or that water plan or in enabling trading of water entitlements, when the whole system is collapsing and there is no particular urgency about addressing the root causes?

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nuts-and-bolts discussion of how water can be more fairly allocated, particularly in places where periodic droughts occur, and how governments, corporations, farmers and ordinary citizens can work together toward that end. As I am not involved in any community groups addressing water law, it was not particularly relevant to me. However, I did come away from the book with some notion of the difficulties involved.
Although the author acknowledges several times that irrigated agriculture is far and away the biggest water consumer, there is no suggestion that encouraging plant-based diets would be worth trying. (Irrigation is necessary only in growing feed crops for livestock, because growing food for direct human consumption takes so much less land that areas needing irrigation would never be brought into production.) Dietary change could either be voluntary, or could be approached by working to end agricultural subsidies--in that case, much higher prices on animal products would guide people toward more plant foods. The author is apparently not interested in preserving wildlife, as he includes a photo of himself having killed a large fish and holding it up like a trophy.

[Jerry Wall]

Water, though seemingly ubiquitous, can become rare in certain areas.
Colorado river is one example of good flow along its length getting to the state when it was exchausted by the time it almost reached the Pacific ocean. Now it is used up before it gets to the ocean.
Many TV references. Beyond we get to the waters in China Australia and others where there is
overuse to raise crops to feed the masses, and serious steps were needed to slow consumption of water so there is enough.
Talks of desalination, reuse of water from one city, say Chicago to other large cities
down the Mississippi, by purification.
97% of water on earth is in the oceans.
plans have been set up to handle lengthy dry periods. WE may need more as time passes.
Does not mention ownership of water rights, plaguing South America recently where some one or groups own the water and profit from selling it to the locals. Bolivia has this problem if memory serves,

[Richard Swartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Water is such an important issue and Richter presents the basic concepts of water management and uses several prominent examples from around the world.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Chasing Water is a book about a very important topic, I found myself incredibly disappointed with this book. The information just seemed to general and not specific enough for my tastes, especially the author's suggestions for sustainability practices.

This book starts out by focusing on the issues of water scarcity, such as why the water is scarce in specific areas, how human practices are depleting water, and how depleting the water resources is harmful for a variety of reasons. The information on water scarcity did have some good information, but for the most part the authors information is very general. I did enjoy the tables and pictures that illustrated the points the author was making, they really added more depth to the information. The second part of the book focuses on how we can use water sustainably and how to move "from scarcity to sustainability". This part of the book was definitely not as good as the first part. The authors suggestions on how to improve are extremely broad and generalized. The ideas on how to conserve water were also unique. Rather than citing specific things that communities can do to save water the author states things such as, "build a shared vision as early as possible". While having a shared vision on water conservation is great, what exactly can communities do about it?

The authors writing style also grated on me during the course of Chasing Water. The author used repetitive analogies throughout the course of the book, referring mainly to financial examples to illustrate the concepts of water use and sustainability. The author refers to themselves repeatedly in the book. It is a pet peeve of mine when authors use "I" and "we" in their nonfiction books and Richter did that many times throughout. Beyond those rather annoying tendencies, this book was informatively written and very easy to read.

In the end, I would recommend skipping this book. There are many books out their about water use and sustainability that contain much more information with more polished writing. If you, or your community, are looking for an overview of water use and sustainability without many facts getting in the way of the general information, then this book might be a good fit for you, otherwise I would recommend finding a different book to read.

I received this book for review purposes via NetGalley.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If humans don't become much better at managing water, water scarcity will quickly go from being a local to a world-wide factor restricting food production, recreation, and both ecological and human health. Brian Richter's book Chasing Water introduces us to the grave nature of our current water situation and then provides a positive, specific set of approaches to dealing with water scarcity.

Richter explains in non-technical terms both the water management strategies we have for minimizing water crises, and the steps to make everyday citizens willing to support these strategies. He makes it clear that no one will get to have all the water they might want. But by involving communities and assuring that everyone has enough to survive, the burden of water scarcity can be made manageable.

Examples taken from around the world, including several examples within the United States, help make this an engaging read about both the tragedy caused by failures to manage water well and the survival of areas during extended droughts that could have destroyed the economic and social fabric if water had not been managed well. Especially relevant for me was a discussion of the Millennium Drought in Australia and several very severe droughts in Texas.

At a time when the often dry western state where I live is developing a statewide water plan, this book gave me important information I needed as an ordinary citizen to participate effectively in the process.(less)

[Curt Chaffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richter is as respected as almost any other voice when it comes to water management and water policy. Chasing Water is a quick read that surveys water supply issues and posits water policy solutions. What really works about the book is the attention to those real world applications. By looking at water supply issues in detail, it is easier to then see the utility in certain solutions. Readers essentially get a "toolkit" for increasing water efficiency and sustainable use that they can apply depending on their nature of water scarcity, current oversight, and political regime.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the book to professionals working in water policy and comprehensive water management, including hydrologists, geologists, lawyers, engineers, and politicians. The book is interesting and understandable enough for members of the general population, but they may get less out of it.

[Kel Munger]

In Chasing Water, Brian Richter—a water scientist with the Nature Conservancy—points out that here in the U.S., we haven’t been exactly appreciative of the amount of water we’ve got, in places using more water on our landscaping than we drink. His argument is that we’re bankrupting the water system with little thought for how it will be replaced or restored, a point amply illustrated by the depletion of groundwater aquifers in places where the water has been pumped up to support larger populations than the land can sustain as well as industrial agriculture.

He looks at rivers under stress all over the planet ...

(Reviewed on Lit/Rant: http://litrant.tumblr.com/post/103460...)

[Bob Stocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all environmental crises facing the earth, the looming shortage of fresh water is perhaps the most serious. In Chasing Water Brain Richter draws on his experience of studying water policies throughout the world to provide a short, sensible guide to developing sustainable water plans.