Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 17 Water: The Nature, Uses, and Future of Our Most Precious and Abused Resource, by Fred Powledge, 1982, 423 pp., $14.95 hardcover from: Farrar Straus Giroux 19 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 “Water Shortages: The Next Energy Crisis," by Bruce Strokes, The Futurist, April 1983, $3.50 from: World Future Society 4916 St. Elmo Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 Water-related calamities have long been unremarkable to people in many parts of the world, but in America we have learned to expect that when we turn on the tap, “water will come out of it, and . . . [that water] will be of the highest quality." So observes Fred Powledge in a book that documents how these comfortable assumptions are being challenged by the realities of acid rain, toxic pollution of drinking water supplies, overdrawn aquifers, and looming battles over water rights. The essential water problem, according to the author, is not one of quantity; the total suppy is vast, but our waste and pollution have put the cheap, easily obtainable portion under considerable strain. Powledge can be preachy in his portrayal of Americans and their elected officials as water wastrels, but he also gives ample credit to the activists, ranging from legionnaires to political radicals, who have adopted water issues as their special cause. Bruce Stokes' article in The Futurist places the water crisis in a global context. Agriculture, notes Stokes, "has a voracious appetite for water, consuming two- thirds to four-fifths of the water used in nearly every country." This appetite will grow even more voracious in the coming decades as population growth fuels food demand, and one likely result will be new calls for massive, environmentally questionable water projects, like the proposed Peripheral Canal in California. Stokes points to "a demand-oriented effort to improve the efficiency of existing irrigation systems" as a more prudent strategy to assure sustainable increases in agricultural productivity. He argues that legal reforms, a more grassroots-oriented approach to water management, and a new water ethic will all be required to balance the complex needs of present and future users. —JF Global Environmental Issues, edited by Essam El-Hinnaw and Manzur Hashmi, 1982, 236 pp., $25.00 from: Tycooly International Publishing Ltd. 6 Crofton Terr. Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin, Ireland This volume is not what you might expect. It's not a 1982 version of the U.S. Government's Global 2000 Report. It exposes the nooks and crannies of threats to the ecosphere, but through problems that are likely to be shared by rural and urban areas in Africa as well as Japan. A startling chapter reveals the environmental impacts of military activity planetwide and proposes protections. Preventive measures are discussed for the worsening surface and ground water crisis. In the chapter "Tourism and the Environment," the responsibilities of public servants to "holiday slums" and the often overlooked effects of pollution and cultural homicide are examined. Share this window with your mayor or any other global village chieftain. —KN We'll Shower You With RAIN Our recent reader survey shows that many more people read RAIN than actually subscribe. That's flattering, but we need to increase our circulation in order to bring you another 10 years of means and dreams. If you send us names of likely subscribers, and they subscribe after receiving a sample copy, we'll extend your subscription by two issues for each new subscriber. The same offer applies if your name and address appear along with a friend's new subscription order. This offer is limited to 500 new subscribers per current reader and ends February 19,1984.
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