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Cover image of The Conversation on Water
Cover image of The Conversation on Water
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The Conversation on Water

edited by Andrea K. Gerlak

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From the contributors to The Conversation, a compelling essay collection on the world's water crises and the necessary steps to build a more sustainable and equitable water future for all.

Water-related crises are affecting more and more communities, both in the United States and internationally. If we continue to delay upgrading our infrastructure and addressing rising environmental concerns, we risk further destabilizing already strained systems—or, worse, causing a catastrophic collapse. In The Conversation on Water, water scholar and professor Andrea K. Gerlak collects essays from The...

From the contributors to The Conversation, a compelling essay collection on the world's water crises and the necessary steps to build a more sustainable and equitable water future for all.

Water-related crises are affecting more and more communities, both in the United States and internationally. If we continue to delay upgrading our infrastructure and addressing rising environmental concerns, we risk further destabilizing already strained systems—or, worse, causing a catastrophic collapse. In The Conversation on Water, water scholar and professor Andrea K. Gerlak collects essays from The Conversation U.S. on critical issues related to water from leading experts in everything from public policy to environmental engineering.

Gerlak pays special attention to the threats facing our water systems today—covering insufficient infrastructure, climate change, and pollution—and integrates them with essays on technologies for harvesting water and Indigenous knowledge in governing the oceans. She then proposes solutions that present opportunities for hope and reform. From new partnerships and collaborative efforts to alternative governance practices and new scientific tools and community approaches, readers will learn about viable pathways forward and will understand the deep social and political dimensions of water governance. Understanding these challenges is the first step toward building a more sustainable and equitable water future for all.

The Critical Conversations series collects essays from top scholars on timely topics, including water, biotechnology, gender diversity, gun culture, and more, originally published on the independent news site The Conversation U.S.

Contributors: Roger Bales, Kevin Befus, Robert Blasiak, Ellen Bruno, Bethany Caruso, Sebastien Chastin, Craig E. Colten, Joseph Cook, Michelle DiBenedetto, Farshid Felfelani, Gabriel Filippelli, Michail Georgiou, Burke Griggs, Gary Griggs, Drew Gronewold, Marissa Grunes, Danielle Hare, Brian Haus, Dan Johnson, Carol Kwiatkowski, Rosalyn R. LaPier, Katharine Mach, Amahia Mallea, Daniel McCool, Jacob Miller-Klugesherz, Nobuhito Mori, Thomas Mortlock, Suzanne O'Connell, Itxaso Odériz, Joseph D. Ortiz, Meg Parsons, Raquel Partelli-Feltrin, Yadu Pokhrel, Manzoor Qadir, Julie Reimer, Landolf Rhode-Barbarigos, Richard Rood, Asher Rosinger, Matthew R. Sanderson, Heidi Schweizer, Alan Seltzer, A. R. Siders, Rodolfo Silva-Casarín, Vladimir Smakhtin, Bruce Sutherland, Lara Taylor, Emily Ury, Ton Van den Bremer, Andrew J. Whelton

Reviews

Reviews

The Conversation on Water addresses challenges to global water management now and into the foreseeable future. Essays encompass a range of global quality and supply problems, including pollution and contamination risks, affordability, climate change, health, and the ocean environment. The scholarship is excellent, original, and very timely.

Water issues can be overwhelming. Fortunately, the scholars whose work is featured in this book are trustworthy guides, identifying and explaining important topics that public officials and citizens ought to understand. Their research shows not just where we've been but also where we might be headed.

Andrea Gerlak is an authority on all things water-related, and The Conversation is a wonderful resource on current policy debates. This is an invaluable collection, organized around critical challenges from public health and climate change to social justice and cultural values. We desperately need a new conversation on water, and this book will help readers be part of the dialogue.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
5
x
8
Pages
264
ISBN
9781421446202
Illustration Description
10 b&w photos, 10 b&w illus.
Table of Contents

Series Editor's Foreword
Preface
Part I. Health and the Need for Clean Water
1. Nearly 60 Million Americans Don't Drink Their Tap Water, Research Suggests—Here's Why That's a Public Health Problem
2. The

Series Editor's Foreword
Preface
Part I. Health and the Need for Clean Water
1. Nearly 60 Million Americans Don't Drink Their Tap Water, Research Suggests—Here's Why That's a Public Health Problem
2. The Importance of Replacing Lead Water Pipes from Coast to Coast
3. Wildfires Are Contaminating Drinking Water Systems, and It's More Widespread Than People Realize
4. Climate Change Threatens Drinking Water Quality across the Great Lakes
5. PFAS "Forever Chemicals" Are Widespread and Threaten Human Health—Here's a Strategy for Protecting the Public
Part II. Digging Deeper to Get More Water
6. Ancient Groundwater: Why the Water You're Drinking May Be Thousands of Years Old
7. As Climate Change Parches the Southwest, Here's a Better Way to Share Water from the Shrinking Colorado River
8. Farmers Are Depleting the Ogallala Aquifer Because the Government Pays Them to Do It
9. Millions of Americans Struggle to Pay Their Water Bills—Here's How a National Water Aid Program Could Work
10. Five Unusual Technologies for Harvesting Water in Dry Areas
11. Why Wall Street Investors' Trading of California Water Futures Is Nothing to Fear—and Unlikely to Work Anyway
Part III. Water in a Warming World
12. Two-Thirds of Earth's Land Is on Pace to Lose Water as the Climate Warms—That's a Problem for People, Crops, and Forests
13. Climate Change Is Making Ocean Waves More Powerful, Threatening to Erode Many Coastlines
14. As Coastal Flooding Worsens, Some Cities Are Retreating from the Water
15. Your Favorite Fishing Stream May Be at High Risk from Climate Change—Here's How to Tell
16. Trees Are Dying of Thirst in the Western Drought—Here's What's Going On inside Their Veins
17. California's Water Supplies Are in Trouble as Climate Change Worsens Natural Dry Spells, Especially in the Sierra Nevada
18. For Flood-Prone Cities, Seawalls Raise as Many Questions as They Answer
19. A 20-Foot Seawall Won't Save Miami—How Living Structures Can Help Protect the Coast and Keep the Paradise Vibe
20. Sea Level Rise Is Killing Trees along the Atlantic Coast, Creating "Ghost Forests" That Are Visible from Space
21. Climate Change Is Driving Rapid Shifts between High and Low Water Levels on the Great Lakes
22. As Flood Risks Increase across the US, It's Time to Recognize the Limits of Levees
Part IV. The Lifeblood of Human Society
23. For Native Americans, a River Is More Than a "Person"; It Is Also a Sacred Place
24. Louisiana's Coastal Cultures Are Threatened by the Very Plans Meant to Save Their Wetlands and Barrier Islands
25. Women Still Carry Most of the World's Water
26. Coronavirus Spotlights the Link between Clean Water and Health
27. Living near Water Can Be Beneficial to Your Mental Health—Here's How to Have More Blue Spaces in Cities
Part V. Preserving Our Oceans
28. How Marine Protected Areas Help Safeguard the Ocean
29. Where Does Plastic Pollution Go When It Enters the Ocean?
30. Scientists Have Been Drilling into the Ocean Floor for 50 Years—Here's What They've Found So Far
31. Blue Acceleration: Our Dash for Ocean Resources Mirrors What We've Already Done on Land
32. Why Indigenous Knowledge Should Be an Essential Part of How We Govern the World's Oceans
Contributors
Index

Author Bio
Andrea K. Gerlak
Featured Contributor

Andrea K. Gerlak

Andrea K. Gerlak (TUCSON, AZ) is the director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and a professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment at the University of Arizona. She is a coeditor of Agency in Earth System Governance and Mapping the New World Order. Gerlak has more than two decades of experience leading university-community environmental partnerships and consulting...