The Conversation on Water

Andrea K. Gerlak

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2023
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781421446219
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

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

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• 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 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