Everywhere one turns, one seems to bump into another "global" crisis. There are global warming and the global economic crisis, of course, and even without OBL (Osama bin Laden), the GLOT (Global War on Terror) lingers on. Beyond the Big 3, we hear much about global crises in energy, health and the environment, as well as global crises relating to hunger, human trafficking, and even the dearth of so-called rare earths.
With so many massive challenges confronting us all at once, it's easy to understand why a sort of crisis fatigue has set in. Not long ago, comedian Daniel Tosh captured this mood with his wickedly sardonic comment: "I hope we find a cure for every major disease. I'm tired of walking 5K."
With all due respect to the (temporary) shortage of rare earths, water is more important to modern life than is yttrium. Indeed, water, along with air, are sine qua nons. But, according to prize-winning business journalist Charles Fishman, most people, especially in the developed world, never think about water's place in things, treating it wastefully as a result.
However questionable such behavior might have been in the 20th century - when, for the first time, water for many was abundant, cheap and safe - in the 21st century, this is no longer the case. The main point of Fishman's powerful new book, "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water," is that the way we think about and behave toward water needs to change - or else.
To his credit, Fishman, a former editor at The News & Observer, makes his case about the need to develop smarter water policies without resorting to overstatement, fear-mongering, guilt-tripping, or, worst of all, Gore-like condescension.
Over the last century, people in many parts of the world have squandered and abused water because they could with few ill effects. Why? Because a series of important innovations in hydrology and hydraulic engineering had brought about a golden age of water, characterized by the delivery to all comers of high-quality water in massive quantities at a minuscule price. With few incentives to use water efficiently, humans, being humans, did not.
In recent decades, however, increased population, climate change and economic development have placed intense pressure on water supplies, and the golden age has come to an end. The passing of this age has made for problems - challenging problems for which difficult adjustments will be required - but this passing, in Fishman's view, offers real opportunities as well.
For starters, today's water "crisis" affords us the opportunity to reconceptualize water. In so doing, water becomes a precious natural and economic resource, one that makes oil seem a mere frill. And once water is viewed through an economic prism, we can begin to assess and measure how we actually use it, develop a hierarchy of claims on water and price such claims accordingly. Just to be clear, Fishman is not for letting the water "markets" dictate everything. He is a purist, so to speak, when it comes to conservation and is adamant about ensuring that everyone's basic needs are met at minimal cost. After that, though, efficiency concerns - and higher pricing - should determine patterns of use.
Fishman lays out this argument convincingly in "The Big Thirst." But he does much more in the book - which is at once a primer on water, a history of water management and a review of exciting recent breakthroughs, all told through a series of brilliant set pieces and vignettes illustrating the way in which water issues play throughout the world.
As such, "The Big Thirst" is at once a tour d'horizon and a tour de force.
Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Global Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.
