Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis

Americans see water as abundant and cheap: we turn on the faucet and out it gushes, for less than a penny a gallon. We use more water than any other culture in the world, much to quench what's now ourlargest crop--the lawn. Yet most Americans cannot name the river or aquifer that flows to our taps, irrigates our food, and produces our electricity. And most don't realize these freshwater sources arein deep trouble.

Blue Revolution exposes the truth about the water crisis--driven not as much by lawn sprinklers as by a tradition that has encouraged everyone, fromhomeowners to farmers to utilities, to tap more and more. But the book also offers much reason for hope. Award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett argues that the best solution is also the simplest and least expensive: awater ethic for America. Just as the green movement helped build awareness about energy and sustainability, so a blue movement will reconnect Americans to their water, helping us value and conserve our most life-givingresource. Avoiding past mistakes, living within our water means, and turning to local water as we do local foods are all part of this new, blue revolution.

Reporting from acrossthe country and around the globe, Barnett shows how people, businesses, and governments have come together to dramatically reduce water use and reverse the water crisis. Entire metro areas, such as San Antonio, Texas, have halved per capita water use. Singapore's closed water loop recycles every drop. New technologies can slash agricultural irrigation in half: businesses can save a lot ofwater--and a lot of money--with designs as simple as recycling air-conditioning condensate.

The first book to call for a national water ethic, Blue Revolution isalso a powerful meditation on water and community in America.

From the Hardcover edition.