The Dammed

This study explores the people and the politics behind the power of water, one of the key issues for the world in the coming decades. The author examines the squabbling that is already breaking out over the fate of great international rivers, such as the Nile and the Ganges. As the best dam sites are used up, underground water stores are plundered and global warming empties the reservoirs. Pearce looks at the huge new aqueducts that will criss-cross the continents and discusses the prospect of them being the cause of future wars. Technocrats foresee a world in which rivers are like water mains with steel-lined sources and concrete beds. They will be owned and valued according to the rules of the market place. The stock exchange might deal in water futures. But environmentalists want rivers, like rainforests, maintained as living natural features. They want to use nature, as humans always have, but not to "tame" it. The author contributes to "The Observer", "The Daily Telegraph", "The Guardian" and "New Scientist". Other books by the author include "Watershed: The Water Crisis in Great Britain", "Acid Rain", "Green Warriors" and "Turning Up the Heat".