Water Follies
Subtitle: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Island Press
Published: September 1, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9781559632232
Subjects: Environmental Engineering & Technology; Environmental science; Hydrology (freshwater); Management of land & natural resources; Pollution & threats to the environment; Water Supply; Real Estate - General; Underground Water; Water And Marine Resources Management; Water use; Science; Nature; Nature/Ecology; USA; Environmental Conservation & Protection - General; Natural Resources; Political Science / Public Policy; Water-supply; Groundwater; Water consumption; Earth Sciences - Geology; United States
First sentence: On July 4, 1997, NASA's Pathfinder landed on Mars, and its little rover, Sojourner, captured the hearts and the imaginations of people around the world.
Description: "The Santa Cruz River that once flowed through Tucson, Arizona, is today a sad mirage of a river. Except for brief periods following heavy rainfall, it is bone dry. The cottonwood and willow trees that once lined its banks have died, and the profusion of birds and wildlife recorded by early settlers are nowhere to be seen. The river is dead. What happened? Where did the water go?".

"As Robert Glennon explains in Water Follies, what killed the Santa Cruz River - and has devastated other waters across the United States - was groundwater pumping. The excessive pumping of our aquifers has created an environmental catastrophe known to only a handful of scientists and water management experts, as well as those unfortunate enough to have suffered the direct consequences. Quite remarkably, no books or magazines have focused on this issue.

In a striking collection of stories that brings to life the human and natural impacts of our growing national thirst, Glennon provides an occasionally wry and always fascinating account of groundwater pumping and the environmental problems it causes."--BOOK JACKET.