After many years of shitting in a bucket I am now proud to announce the opening of a brand new twin-chamber concrete block toilet which renders my bucket obsolete.

The bucket toilet has served me well: no special equipment required, merely a seat and a bucket and somewhere to chuck it- I have been using large plastic barrels which have done an admirable job at turning my poo into a useful amount of compost each year.

Eventually however I decided that I didnt want to be emptying buckets for the rest of my life and Carpenter in Chief Alex persuaded me a concrete block “brick shit-house” was the proper job.

The main resource for this kind of system- and humanure systems in general- is The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins, all of which is available online.

The new toilet is constructed at one end of the house under a lean-to. Moving the toilet outside has freed up a lot of space in the cabin and is more hygienic.

The toilet works by using one side only for a year, then leaving that and using the second side for a year, by which time the first one should be fully composted and ready to empty.

Each chamber is approximately 1 cubic Meter in size, which should be sufficient for a family of four for a year. The wooden seats are built on top of the blocks.

The chambers are emptied from removable doors at the back.

One of the main issues with a twin chamber system is the potential for smells if there is too much urine: I decided to separate the urine by placing a small funnel at the front and piping it into a gravel swale/potential reed bed that is below the house and currently takes my gray water.

The funnel system seems to work fine for males, and, “depending on aim” I was told so far for females as well.

Some urine in the compost is fine of course but too much nitrogen or liquid in general is about the only thing that can go wrong, so best avoid the possibility. It would be possible to deal with the excess urine by adding carbon- sawdust is easiest, also paper, straw- which I do anyway. I layed a thick mattress of straw on the bottom of the first chamber before starting to use it. Wood ash which is likely to have small pieces of charcoal in it is also excellent and something I also have plenty of.

I installed a vent to carry away any lingering smells, and a drain in case liquid does mange to build up to excess. There is nothing worse than a smelly toilet which is surely guaranteed to put visitors off!

Jenkins seems confident enough in his thermophilic system to use the finished compost on his vegetable garden; I am more inclined to use it on trees and shrubs, but have on occasion used it for above-ground vegetables and am still quite normal.

Alexander Bell

Luath Press 2009

Hardback 208 pp

If oil supply peaks and begins to decline times will be hard. Standard of living will decline and people may go hungry but they will be able to adapt by powering down and making do with less.

If water supply- for domestic use but also for irrigation- peaks and declines people have no option but to migrate.

UK journalist Alexander Bell spells out his thesis starkly in this fascinating and clearly written book: many of the world’s major regions are past or on the brink of peak water and face growing populations with declining supplies.

The rich world will not escape the catastrophic  effects of this as they depend on vast quantities of “virtual water” imported for the most part from the global South in the form of food  and goods. They will also have to deal with increasing numbers of water refugees in the future.

Bell begins by tracing the link between water control and the development of civilisation.

Civilisation is a model of living that suits itself to socieites that control water

Six thousand years ago in Mesopotamia the Sumerians became the first to experiment in large scale water control by keeping back the floods of the Tigris and the Euphrates  allowing both productive agriculture on the fertile flood plane and a store of water for irrigation in the dry periods.

Ever since then water control has been both a prerequisite growth of cities and a symbol of the power that water can bestow on emperors and rulers. The spectacular viaducts of the Romans were more for bathing and recreation than irrigation providing a potent symbol. The hubris of the doomed city of Las Vegas with its fountains in the desert provides a contemprary example.

Bell make the interesting point about the other way in which control of water has become the mark of a civilised society is in the use of sewers and flush toilets. Our modern use of clean drinking water to flush away our bodily wastes may be the ultimate symbol of an unsustainable culture.

The control of water however takes enormous effort as the canals need to be constantly dug out to remove the silt, and this need for labour has formed part of the cycla of water supply, irrigation, and increased population :

An important thing happens when humans stop moving from place to place in search of water, food and safety. They have more children.

The other difficulty with constant irrigation is the build up of salt. Irrigation in hot countries leads to considerable losses in evaporation, leaving the mineral salts brought down from the mountains behind on the land. In many of the world’s major agricultural regions, as water supplies dry up the land becomes useless.

For millions, water supply in the future is threatened by climate change which is melting the glaciers which have provided steady supplies for millenia, causing first floods and later, permanent water shortages.

In the modern era, governments and presidents have used the mega dam as a show of strength and independence.

One example is the High Aswan Dam built by Nassar in the newly independent country.  This too has been victim to evaporation, but political reasons have made it impossible to make a better arrangement of building dams in the cooler mountains of Ethiopia. Thus Egypt is arming itself against the thirst of its poorer neighbours with growing populations and less ability to sustain themselves as the deserts spread and the planet warms up.

Many other areas are facing potential water conflicts: Israel and Palestine; Pakistan and India. Bell explains that historically the struggle for control of water has not usually lead to war because people feel they have to co-operate at least to some degree over water rights, but comments grimly

The idea of a water war has become commonplace.It may happen like the scenarios above, but I suspect the world has to face up to a more horrific future. Not one of war as we understand it in 20th century terms, but a state of ongoing global trauma as people witness civilisation decay when the water runs out. How we respond to that catastrophe will be the mark of the human race. Almost certainly it will mean the end of civilisation as we currently know it.

Peak Water is a valuable contribution to our understanding of human ecology providing a broad sweep  of the human predicament of overshoot: our thirst for control of water has been historically the core issue for civilisation, but as we have extended our temporary control over nature we have increasingly taken it for granted as just the stuff that comes out of our taps. Perhaps even the environmental movement, with its recent preoccupation over  peak oil and climate change, have also been lulled into a false sense of security over this vital resource, forgetting that no degree of adaptation can adjust to water shortages.

Alexander Bell has written a great book to remind us that we are soon  going to find out just how long a society can survive without enough water.

In particular, a large extension to the small pond has now been created, with multiple potential uses:

-swimming hole- glorious to have!

-general large store of water in the landscape- not as high up as I would have liked as it is below the house but invaluable nevertheless;

-micro-climate creation- the edge around a large pond may serve as a protection against frost for early spring vegetable i could grow there, as a body of water can keep the immediate environment from freezing;

-added reflected sunlight to the northern terraces above the pond;

-potential for edible water plants

-potential even for small-scale fish-farming ( something I know little about, but many of my friends and neighbours around west Cork are also creating large ponds with this in mind).

-general wildlife habitat, especially good for frogs which may keep down the slugs

-adds tremendous beauty to any site

The pond was constructed by the one and only Big Johnny D with a 6 ton digger- the largest suitable for my sloping and narrow site. We stripped off the peat bog that lay on top and used this to make a series of terraces for blueberries above the pond.

The sides of the pond were constructed with what at first seemed like good clay, but on closer inspection appears to be a fine silt- not ideal for ponds as it wont seal in the water that well. However, a second visit with the digger and another couple of hours of battering, squashing and compressing the sides and it now seems to be holding well.

A few days ago I hosted a 1-day Introduction to Permaculture course here at Derryduff which was well-attended, also by some local farmers and small-holders which is a gratifying indication of the spread of interest in PC to the general population.

We covered Permaculture design Principles, a tour of the gardens, fruit and woodlands, and conducted a practical mulching of some terraces where we constructed a hooped climbing support for berries or vines.

These hoops are made of lengths of 10mm iron re-inforcing bar or “re-bar” commonly available from builders’ suppliers. they are threaded through lengths of 3/4″ alcethene pipe to make them softer to handle and tie plants to. 2m high chicken wire can then be fitted to this support which is a really quick and handy way to establish a trellis or climbing support

.

Many thanks to all who participated. I plan a series of similar courses covering different aspects of permaculture design and practice starting this autumn. Please check the “Courses” page on this blog for more details.

A few years ago I attended an extraordinary event in Co. Monaghan which I still refer to as “The great magic Water Conference”. Organised by local environmentalists to promote the “discoveries” of an outfit called Perfect Science, it drew together an extraordinary mix of council water engineers, environmentalists and water diviners, pendulum swingers and other purveyors of New Age religion.

I wont reveal the names of those involved in setting up the conference; some of them are old friends I havn’t seen for a while. Ill refer to the main organiser as “John”- not his real name. John had managed to gain the support of the County Council who opened the event and reputedly put up money to pay for it.

Perfect Science

The Perfect Science crew claimed to have a (proprietorial) product of “super-ionized” water which, in its various preparations, had the ability to cleanse the most polluted body of water- a lake, river or well, for example- simply by the addition of a few drops of the Perfect Science mix. Even water polluted by PCBs and heavy metals, it was claimed, could be purified by this solution and the team claimed that within five years (this was 10 years ago) “all the polluted water in the world would be purified”.

Here is an extract from the “Perfect Science” website explaining their ground-breaking and earth-shattering discoveries which have enabled them to overturn the Laws of Physics:

http://www.perfectscience.net/

We consider the Perfect Science Energetic formula to be the best aligned to the Planet and the living beings. This consideration is also supported by the pool of data obtained by Aquatron device by which patients are tested for the different medicaments available. It is only the modern science that recognized the reality as the web of self-consistent interactions in multi-dimensional space-time in which time and interactions are generically non-linear. This means that the reality we live is what we have created, and that we as humans (and that is valid for all entities that exist in the universe) are the result of mutual interactions. So to change the world in which we live we have first to cleanse our physical and energy bodies, in order that we will be able to help in cleaning the Planet and all what exist on it and was created during long painful history of the human fall, and align it with the New world

The brains behind Perfect Science, we were told, was Ayhan Doyuk from Turkey.

Doyuk was presented as a kind of maverick genius who had unlocked the secrets of the universe and discovered the preparations that were being demonstrated: in a show that could have come straight out of the 19th Century snake-oil salesman, Doyuk took a fish-tank of dirty polluted water which came from a nearby lake which had been polluted in the past by a tannery,added a few drops of Perfect Science water, and within half-an-hour, hey presto! the water had clarified.

Now, Im no scientist, but it did occur to me that there may be a number of substances that would have the effect of clarifying dirty water by making the particles settle out. I seemed to remember some such experiment I had done with a chemistry set as a child.

“One grade below Holy Water”

Meanwhile various people in the audience were passing round a sample and waving pendulums over it. Conferring with each other, there was a general consensus: the Perfect Science water was “just one grade below the spiritual power of holy water”. Well that didn’t seem very impressive- I mean, you can get Holy water freely from any Holy well, can’t you?

The water engineers from Dublin and surrounding areas were not impressed. At coffee break I chatted to one of them: what are you guys doing here? Well, she said, the water pollution situation in Dublin is terrible. We just don’t know what to do about it. We’ll try anything.

None of them stayed for the afternoon session, however, which consisted of some fairly unimpressive slideshows about the work of Perfect Science around the world, delivered by two decidedly creepy older Americans in suits (yes Im betraying my prejudices here) who name-dropped this UN conference and that UN conference; “we’re working with the Turkish government…with the Koreans…the Chinese…”

The atmosphere at the place where many of us were staying for the conference was electric, with all sorts of rumors flying around and many polarised factions amongst those assembled- some believed it to be a scam, others convinced it was genuine, many unsure but still willing to give the benefit of the doubt less some genuinely planet-saving discovery might be thrown down the drain and the chance missed.

At one point, with dozens of people gathered around a huge bonfire outside, an intense debate ensued with one individual passionately urging John to denounce Perfect Science as con merchants, lest his reputation be destroyed, while John, for his part, argued just as passionately that he was convinced that the Perfect Science formula was genuine.

When well-known environmental scientist arrived I was keen to hear his professional opinion, I asked him what he thought. Carefully, in measured and sober words, he declared: “I think it is 99% sure that Perfect Science are really onto something; and only 1% chance of a scam”.

But when I suggested to him that there may be many commonly available chemicals that would settle out particles in murky water, his mouth dropped and he covered his face in his hands -”How could I have missed that?”

“Throw away your rational minds!”

The next day, awkward questions were asked. Someone had been onto the UN and the Turkish government and discovered there was no official programme in Turkey to unroll the Perfect Science water purifying scheme across the country, as had been claimed; there was no record of them having attended the UN conferences mentioned. Red faces on the stage but protests from the floor as, to my astonishment, a woman stood up and turned to the audience imploring them “not to ask these questions: what Perfect Science us is offering is a new paradigm. In order to understand it we must throw away our rational minds!”

In debates amongst other skeptics present there was one unsolved issue: what was the motive? Where was the money? Perfect Science were not being paid for their attendance- so what was in it for them?

The answer came from a local farmer who had been chauffeuring around the team during the weekend. He reported that two finely-dressed Belgian women who appeared at the conference on the Sunday had met with members of perfect Science in their hotel. He claimed to have seen a cheque being passed from them, presumably to purchase some of the large array of body-care products Perfect Science were marketing under their name- body lotion, massage water, various soaps and oils, all with the Perfect Science label. Impressed by the conference itself- and perhaps especially by the apparent support by the County Council- the Belgians had been keen to do business.

By Sunday afternoon the cracks had started to show. As the perfect Science team prepared to leave, they were accosted by a few of us and charged with pedaling a fraudulent product. The water that had been clarified in the earlier demonstration had in fact been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency for analysis- when the results came back, the water was shown to be more, not less polluted (because of the chemical which had been added). Perfect Science were rushing off to catch a flight- content with the weekend’s business and armed now with a film of the conference in Co. Monaghan, Ireland showing how they are working at official council level here, they were keen to head off for the next scam. Their lawyer was pushed forward to explain: “You don’t have full spectrum analysis in this country. In the States, the tests would show the benefits of the Perfect Science formula”.

Culture of Belief

For me the whole weekend was an opportunity to witness a professional international scam close up, but the real lesson was more psychological and sociological: why do people believe what they believe? Why is sections of the environmental movement so susceptible to being taken advantage of in this way? Why is there such a willingness to “throw away the rational mind” which leads to such naivety? And how many more cynical outfits like Perfect Science are there out there plotting the next scam aimed deliberately at the only- too- willing-to-believe New Age faithful?

Im not suggesting that all such irrational beliefs are exploited cynically, just that the environmental movement is especially open to scams like this. We dont seem to have the thinking tools- the skills and training necessary to sort out the wheat from the chaff, to think critically and openly about things and then come to reasoned conclusions.

This kind of scam preys upon our sensibilities: we don’t like to be the one claiming to be “right” because it sounds superior and arrogant. (Im well used to this accusation myself). Our desire for some kind of miraculous breakthrough to solve the seemingly intractable problems of a world on the brink can lead to an abandonment of reason. And we can have an understandable suspicion of science which gets blamed for a lot of the destruction in the world.

In a world on the brink of disaster, fueled by climate change deniers, techno-fantasists, and corrupt politicians, I think this is a cause of great concern to environmentalists everywhere.

I have just this lunch-time while in the middle of writing this been involved in a debate with two people I know well about the validity of astrology. My claims that there is no scientific evidence to support astrology were countered by saying that science is not reliable anyway, that the researcher will likely find what they want to find, that just because the studies cant prove an effect does not mean it isn’t there, and so on.

I insisted on consistency of argument and asked their views on climate change and other “scientifically” established causes of the environmental movement. Quite happy to be consistent, they agreed that in fact there is no way of being sure of anything, that all beliefs (I used racism as another example) are equally valid (or invalid) and no-one actually knows anything.

The dangers of this way of thinking should not be underestimated, and although astrology for example might be seen as “harmless” the same method of justification for other beliefs would be disasterous.

For some time long after the event I would occasionally meet people who had been there who would tell me, “Well, we still don’t know for sure that there wasn’t something in it.” Just like we don’t know for sure that we wont find a huge new store of fossil fuel under the melting arctic that will save our consumer society; just like we don’t know for sure the climate is warming up and we are the main cause; just like we don’t know for sure that the industrial growth society is unsustainable.

What the environmental movement needs more than anything else right now is critical thinking. We do not need New Age religion or any other kind of superstitious belief; but we cannot afford to throw out scientific inquiry.

They discussed a proposal to extract water from the river Shannon at Loch Ree to quench the growing water demand from the greater Dublin area. I had been following this story for a while and Jack O’Sullivan, and environmental consultant who produced an Environmental Impact Study for the SPA, has been kindly keeping me informed of developments.

Extraction of increasing volumes of water from rivers to supply urban areas is inherently unsustainable but follows a pattern that has been repeated throughout the world leading to the devastation of many of the world’s major river systems (see my review “When the Rivers Run Dry”).

Despite assurances from Mr Leahy that extraction from Loch Ree was only one option under consideration, and that it “simply will not happen” if further feasibility studies demonstrate an unacceptable impact on navigation, fishing and water quality, it appears that other options exist that have not been seriously considered. There is rapidly growing local opposition- from a wide variety of individuals and organisations with interests in angling, boat hire, tourism, conservation, wildlife and environmental protection- expressing concern that the Dublin City Council have already made up their mind to pursue the Loch Ree option without proper consultation.

Indeed, Mr Walsh’s anger was palpable during the interview as he compared the plan to being “like taking the heart out of a living human being”. There is clearly a very strong emotional link to the Shannon, Ireland’s principle river that runs deeply through the cultural and mythological -as well as the physical- landscape.

Mr. Walsh made it clear that the 1.5million stakeholders in the surrounding catchment area of the Shannon will be the ones to decide the fate of the river, but that the Dublin Council should in any case drop the plan because there is “no chance whatsoever” of it being accepted.

The report by Environmental Management Services recommends instead various alternatives such as water conservation measures and fixing leaks (total losses in the Greater Dublin Area from leaks are estimated to account for up to 60% of the total quantity of water proposed to be extracted from Loch Ree!); education on conservation and rainwater harvesting; water metering; and a significant potential alternative source in a gravel and fissured bedrock aquifer around North County Dublin that could meet Dublin’s needs more adequately. This aquifer would in any case be preferable, requiring less treatment than surface water from the Loch.

They conclude: “It is our observation that one remarkable failure of the preliminary study commissioned by Dublin City Council is the lack of any reference to the effects of large-scale water abstraction from lakes or rivers in other parts of the world. One such example, which is the subject of considerable international concern, is the abstraction of water from the River Jordan, which has resulted in near destruction of the Red Sea and serious irreversible damage to the River Jordan.”

The fate of The Dead Sea is essentially linked to increasing human population and development pressure on natural resources. Like the pressure to build a motorway through another of Ireland’s great heritage sites, the Hill of Tara, the issue of the Shannon represents a generally increasing tension between the needs of growing urban populations and the management of natural resources.

Better planning, greater political accountability, efficiency and conservation measures will all have their role to play, but as the Growth Economy continues and population pressure increases in Ireland these tensions are likely only to increase. The interests of a growing urban population of consumers and those of the recreational and environmental groups around the Shannon are not necessarily entirely incompatible but until a much more fundamental debate about the prescience of short-term economic benefits over sustainability and environmental protection takes place, the pressure will increase on what’s left of Ireland’s heritage and natural resources.

Book Review

Fred Pearce: When the Rivers Run Dry- What happens when our water runs out?

Eden Projects Books 2006
368pp

We are not used to thinking too much about water conservation in this part of the world. In Britain and Ireland, we are more likely to be complaining about the rain than to be expressing any serious concern about shortages. Droughts are something that happens in Africa and places like that, right?

From the outset of this superb survey and analyses of the state of the world’s most critical resource, Fred Pearce makes us think again. In many parts of the world- the “developed” and industrialised parts as much as the Majority South- rivers are running dry, underground aquifers are being pumped way beyond their natural replenishment rate, and marshlands are being drained.

Environmental journalist, researcher, broadcaster and author of 15 previous books, Pearce takes us from rivers like the Kennet in Wiltshire, along the Mekong in Cambodia, the Colorado in the South West USA, the Amazon and the Ganges, bringing his journalistic and investigative skills to bear on this fascinating, crucial but tragic story.

Astonishingly, Britain has less fresh water available per head of population than Afghanistan; the South East of England has less than Ethiopia. Until now, this has not been too much of a problem because there has been no need to irrigate crops. But climate change bringing increasing droughts, bad management, development and new housing without adequate provision for water needs, and the pumping of water from the hills into towns with burgeoning populations, are all factors contributing to increasing water stress with little evidence of any long-term solution. The situation just seems set to get worse- much worse- as dozens of rivers –such as the Kennet in Wiltshire- dry up for much of the year as they are effectively drained to supply the needs of towns. Little thought is put into water conservation, and crises management just compounds the problem by lowering the water tables still further in an attempt to re-fill the rivers during dry spells.

With increasing environmental awareness, not to mention water bills, it is becoming more common to put a brick in the lavatory cistern, take showers rather than baths, and think about installing rain-water harvesting systems and use other strategies to conserve water. However, we might be surprised to hear that most of our water use is not in daily domestic habits, but in the embodied water used to produce our food and grow our clothes: -it takes between 2,000 and 5,000 litres to grow a kilo of rice- more than the average householder would use in a week; -1000 litres are needed to grow a kilo of wheat. -11,000 litres to grow the feed for a cow to produce a quarter-pound hamburger; -2,000-4,000 litres for that cow to fill its udders with a litre of milk; -every teaspoonful of sugar takes 50 cups of water to grow it, while 140litres would be required to grow the coffee you sweeten it with; And it is not only food- it takes a staggering 25 bath-tubs full of water to produce enough cotton for a T-shirt.

“The water ‘footprint’ of western countries on the rest of the world deserves to become a serious issue. Whenever you buy a T-shirt made of Pakistani cotton, eat Thai rice or drink coffee from Central America, you are influencing the hydrology of these regions- taking a share of the River Indus, the Mekong or the Costa Rican rains. You may be helping the rivers run dry.”

One of the biggest villains in this story is the role mega-dams have played in environmental destruction around the world. In the chapter “Wonders of the World” we are introduced to Daniel Beard, “the recently retired Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the US agency that has built large dams on more rivers than any other body anywhere in the world” who is now campaigning against dams. Beard tells us that “’apart from global warming, there has been no more drastic human alteration of the landscape than the damming, regulation and diversion of the world’s rivers…[but now] we’ve started tearing down dams…the time when large dam projects are a realistic answer to solving water problems is behind us.”

By interfering with water flows on such a scale, dams it seems have often failed to live up to expectations and caused serious environmental destruction, as well as destruction to local livelihoods and economies.

“Once,” writes Pierce, “the world’s river teemed with fish. Then, during the twentieth century, most of the rivers were barricaded with dams and their wild flows tamed. Almost everywhere this has caused a drastic decline in fisheries.”

Since the first “superdam” was completed in 1935 – the 220-metre wide Burec’s Hoover dam that spanned the Boulder Canyon on the river Colorado- dams quickly become a powerful symbol of modernism. Russia, Egypt, Japan, China and India followed America’s lead until by the 1990s already nearly all the world’s major river systems had dams built on them. Between them, around a fifth of the global total of electricity is being generated by hydro power. Most big dams have other functions, irrigation and domestic supply to cities.

Nowadays however the wisdom of building these vast structures is coming seriously into question. The benefits usually turn out to be short-term, and the rich gain far more than the poor. Indeed, large numbers of people-at least 80million world-wide- have been forced to move from their homes to escape the areas the dams flood. More than this, however, the electricity provided by the dams is often less than anticipated, and dams around the world are suffering other problems as well, including silting of the reservoirs, the production of methane from rotting vegetation that accumulates behind dams in the tropics and rainforest areas- which contributes an astonishing 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, evaporation, and in some regions potential threats of total failure with catastrophic effects due to deterioration of the dams or even terrorist attack.

As a result of ill-advised damming projects, the diversion of a river’s waters for urban development, golf-courses and agriculture, many of the world’s great rivers are failing to reach the sea for part or all of the year. “The Nile in Egypt, the Yellow River in China, the Indus in Pakistan, the Colorado and the Rio Grande in the USA- all were reported to be trickling into the sand, sometimes hundreds of miles from the sea… Some kind of cataclysm was striking the world’s rivers.” He goes on: “The wells have been drying up too. Half a century of pumping on the high planes of the USA has removed water that will take two thousand years to replace. In India, farmers whose fathers lifted water from wells with a bucket now sink boreholes more than a kilometre into the rocks- and still they find no water.”

Perhaps the most disturbing and tragic water story of all is the fate of the Aral Sea which lies between the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Once the fourth-largest inland body of water, over the last 40 years most of it has turned into a “huge, uncharted desert” due to the diversion of nearly all the water from the two main rivers that feed it to irrigate vast cotton fields that were planted in the desert. This, says Pierce, was “one of the greatest ever assaults on major rivers” and has poisoned the land and destroyed a people. On his journey through the landscape he finds “mismanagement of water on an almost unimaginable scale…More disturbing still, I found in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, nobody seems to have the vision or the will to rethink how this land and its rivers might serve the people here better.”

In the latter chapters Pierce indicates where such a vision might come from to resurrect the failing world’s river systems. There is a new wisdom slowly emerging that promotes working with nature rather than against it. Rather than resorting to massive engineering projects to manage floods and irrigation, more local and appropriate methods are being resurrected, with a greater understanding of the crucial role forests and wetlands play. A return to traditional methods of rainwater harvesting is seen as the only hope for many farmers in water-stressed areas of the world. One researcher in the Negev desert in Israel, after archaeological excavations uncovered ancient hillside water channels showing how careful rainwater collection could make a huge difference, is quoted a saying, “We have tried to grow the crops mentioned in the Bible, and most of them will grow here in the desert if we harvest the rain”.

The book concludes with a look at “Water Ethics” showing that solutions are there, their implementation can lead to dramatic positive results- as in the Negev desert- but that the global water situation remains critical. Civilisations in the past- such as the Mayan civilisation – seem to have been propelled into collapse due to intensive water use and local climate change.

Fred Pierce has given us a brilliant tour of the world’s rivers that reads as both an adventure story and powerful testimony to the human impact on the water cycle we depend on. This is one of the best and most important environmental books to come out in the recent years.