A real-life thriller about the corporate takeover of our most basic resource. In a shocking exposé, Blue Gold shows why, as the vice president of the World Bank has pronounced, "The wars of the next century will be about water." Increasingly, transnational corporations are plotting to control the world's dwindling water supply. In England and France, where water has already been privatized, rates have soared and water shortages have been severe. The major bottled-water companies—Perrier, Evian, Naya, and now Coca-Cola and PepsiCo—head one of the fastest growing and least regulated industries, buying up fresh water rights and drying up crucial reserves. Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, two of the most active opponents to this trend, show how the corporate giants act in their own interest and how, contrary to received wisdom, water flows uphill to the wealthy who can afford it. The consumption of water doubles every twenty years—more than twice the rate of the increase in human population. Blue Goldcaptures in striking detail the forces behind the depletion of the world's fresh water, and the human and ecological impacts it entails.

A sobering, in-depth look at the growing scarcity of fresh water and the increasing privatization and corporate control of this nonrenewable resource. (Library Journal)

An angry and persuasive account. (Business Week)

A call to arms. . . . The dire scenarios laid out in this comprehensive book are truly frightening. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

In a shocking expos, "Blue Gold, " available now in paperback, shows why, as the vice president of the World Bank has pronounced, "The wars of the next century will be about water."

Maude Barlow is the national volunteer chair of the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest public advocacy organization. She lives in Ottawa. Tony Clarke is the director of the Polaris Institute of Canada and chairs the committee on corporations for the International Forum on Globalization. He lives in Ottawa.