We cannot live without water. But with 7.5 billion people competing for this single unevenly-distributed resource, the planet is drying up. In When the Rivers Run Dry, Fred Pearce explores the growing world water crisis, from Kent to Kenya. His powerful reportage takes us to places where waterways are turning to sand before they reach the ocean; where fields are parched and crops no longer grow; where once fertile ground has turned to desert; where wars are fought over access to water and cultures are dying out. But he offers us hope for the future – if we can radically revolutionise the way we treat water, and take personal responsibility for the water we use. This landmark work, fully updated for 2019, from a respected and accomplished scientist, will transform the way we view the water in our reservoirs and rivers, and change the way we treat the water in our taps.
Fred Pearce is an award-winning journalist and author, reporting from 87 countries. He has been the environmental consultant of New Scientist magazine since 1992, a regular broadcaster and contributor to the Guardian, Washington Post and others. He has written fourteen books on environmental and development issues, translated into 24 languages.
Review of the first edition:
"Fred Pearce is an artist with a pen, writing beautifully and movingly about an emerging crisis that will galvanize the world's attention."
– James Speth, ex head of blue-chip World Resources Institute and the UN Development Programme, and now dean of Yale School of Environmental Studies